In honor of Second Likelihood Month, the Los Angeles Civil + Human Rights and Fairness Division (LA Civil Rights) joined forces with Image Movement to host a transformative Affect Screening of the Sundance award-winning documentary “Daughters” on April 21, on the Regal Theater at LA Stay.
The free group occasion welcomed changemakers, justice advocates, and households from throughout Los Angeles to witness a transferring exploration of the emotional toll incarceration takes on father-daughter relationships—and the hope that arises when methods are challenged, and tales are shared.
Following the movie, an inspiring panel featured Angela Patton, co-director of Daughters and CEO of Ladies For A Change; the Rev. Joe Paul, CEO of Promise Enterprises and a longtime religion chief; and Karen McDaniel, co-founder and govt director of ThePLACE4GRACE. The panel was moderated by Capri Maddox, govt director of LA Civil Rights.
“Once we take into consideration Second Likelihood Month, we should uplift the group of those that are justice-involved,” Maddox said.
“People face discrimination in lots of kinds, however our justice-involved residents expertise compounded boundaries—even from different marginalized communities. The prison justice system has inequities that affect lives proper right here in downtown courthouses. We should inform these tales, hear deeply, and advocate fiercely.”
Directed by Natalie Rae and Angela Patton, “Daughters” follows the deeply private journeys of 4 ladies—Aubrey, Santana, Raziah, and Ja’Ana—as they put together for a uncommon and emotional “Daddy-Daughter Dance” with their incarcerated fathers. The movie—eight years within the making—tackles themes of absence, resilience, and reconnection whereas providing a strong critique of a justice system that too usually disregards household.
“I began this work to be in rooms like this one,” Patton shared with the viewers.
“This movie is a software—for political leaders, for younger folks advocating for change, for group facilities and houses alike. We made this movie for the nation. You haven’t misplaced your energy. It’s on this room.”
The movie, which premiered on the 2024 Sundance Movie Competition, gained each the Competition Favourite and Viewers Alternative awards. It continues to realize momentum with nationwide audiences and is now streaming on Netflix.
Additionally lending highly effective remarks was Deputy Mayor of Public Security, Karen Lane, who related the themes of “Daughters” to broader systemic change mirrored within the metropolis’s finances priorities.
“Once we take away systemic boundaries, folks can remodel—not solely themselves, but in addition their households and neighborhoods,” Lane mentioned. “That’s why Mayor Bass created the Workplace of Group Security. Public security should embody group management and civic engagement. This isn’t charity work—it’s public infrastructure.”
Lane emphasised that each finances season brings a combat for intervention and prevention assets. “We see individuals who have been as soon as advised their voices didn’t matter exhibiting as much as advocate—not for themselves alone, however for his or her whole communities. That’s energy. That’s how methods change.”
In line with an October 2024 report by the Jail Coverage Initiative, Los Angeles County’s jail system is among the many largest within the nation, with a median day by day inhabitants of 13,805 in 2022. Alarmingly, 87% of these incarcerated have been Black or Latinx—regardless of these teams making up simply over half of the county’s whole inhabitants mixed. Practically 30% have been Black residents, who comprise solely 7.5% of the county’s common inhabitants.
California is one in every of solely 4 states that at present permit conjugal visits, also called household visits, of their prisons. These visits, that are non-public in a single day stays in non-public, apartment-like amenities on jail grounds, are meant to help household connections and rehabilitation
Visitation insurance policies fluctuate throughout amenities however stay restricted. The emotional penalties of restricted entry are immense, notably for kids of incarcerated dad and mom. Analysis constantly hyperlinks in-person visitation with lowered recidivism, higher psychological well being, and smoother reintegration into society.
“Daughters” isn’t just a movie—it’s a dialog starter, a therapeutic balm, and a name to motion. Via its lens, audiences are requested to think about a justice system rooted in dignity and redemption, and a society that sees each household—no matter circumstance—as worthy of affection and restore.
Angela Patton’s closing phrases summed up the night’s emotional response: “If it’s emotional, it’s as a result of it was alleged to be. That is how change begins—in rooms like this, with hearts open and eyes unafraid.”
“Daughters” is at present out there to stream on Netflix.
