One of the D.C. area’s most unique film-viewing experiences, the DC/Dox Film Festival, was held recently at multiple venues from June 13-16.
Established in 2022 by veteran film festival producers Jamie Shor and Sky Sitney, the local film festival showcased 100 diverse documentary full-length features and film shorts. Further, the four-day event featured the DMV with 47 films produced by local area filmmakers or on subjects that strongly resonated with DC area communities.
The festival was a space to screen unique films and serve as a nurturing learning environment for aspiring filmmakers.
“I think film festivals become a rare space to talk to filmmakers,” said Sitney, a Film and Media Studies Program professor at Georgetown University. “In this festival, filmmakers from many documentaries grapple with critically important issues. They are the kinds of topics that journalists might be covering.”
‘Daughters’
At the beginning of the documentary “Daughters,” an off-camera voice says, “Girls know what they need.” This documentary tells us in a special way what young girls need.
The synopsis of this film says it is about a Daddy Daughter Dance. The unusual hook is that their fathers are incarcerated in a Washington, D.C. jail. The dance occurs where these men are. It’s a reunion no family should have to go through. Co-directors Natalie Rae and Angela Patton spent eight years following this emotional journey.
“I visualized it as a dance and the power of them being together,” said Patton who was motivated to pursue this film from her Ted Talk presentation many years ago. “I shared with Angela how powerful it would be seeing this from a girl’s perspective.”
Dads who participated in the dance had to go through a 12-week series of fatherhood discussions led by coach Chad Morris. Participants were hesitant at first, but they opened up to their coach. While inside the jail, we see what happened with featured daughters Aubrey Smith, 5, Santana Stewart, 10, Ja’Ana Crudup, 11, and Raziah Lewis, 15. Each girl has a point of view and audiences learn how each had been impacted by the separation from their fathers. It felt like they were all saying, “How did we end up here?”
The six-hour Daddy-Daughter Dance occurs with the girls dressed beautifully, and the fathers are groomed and wearing suits. For the most part, there is joy, but then reality hits.
Through love and tears, promises are made. Controls that are in place restrict those father-daughter promises. This documentary takes a deep look into unconditional love.
“Daughters” premieres on Netflix on Aug. 14.
’51st State’
The documentary short “51st State” had its world premiere at the DC/Dox Film Festival, and explores the past, present, and future of D.C. statehood through a profile of 26-year-old advocate Jamal Holtz.
A native Washingtonian who grew up in Southeast D.C., Holtz has recruited Generation Z native Washingtonians to advocate for statehood through his organization “51 for 51.”
Through 51 for 51, statehood information events are organized, and outreach to congressional leaders is made. Director Hannah Rosenzweig, a veteran filmmaker, met Holtz at a 51 for 51 in New York City.
She immediately got on board for D.C. statehood.
“I felt I could come in to get the message about statehood out of the District,” said Rosenzweig, an award-winning producer and director. “More people should know the importance of D.C. statehood and the situation for Washingtonians.”
In this documentary, we feel Holtz’s disappointment when the statehood bill “S.51” failed in committee and was not advanced for a full Senate vote.
With the determination of Holtz, the organization “51 for 51” and the film “51st State” keep hope alive for D.C. to gain statehood.
‘Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round’
Bethesda, Maryland’s Glen Echo Park may not have known the amusement park was segregated for nearly 60 years until students from Howard University mounted a protest in 1960. The effort to desegregate the park gained the support of Jews in the neighborhood where Glen Echo was located. This civil rights protest is told in the film “Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round,” another full-length feature screened at the DC/Dox Film Festival.
Rockville, Maryland, native Ilana Trachtman is the director and producer of the film. Growing up in the area, she often visited the park as a child. The standout feature ride was and still is a carousel. About 15 years ago Trachtman had an “ah-ha” moment when she learned from a National Park Service Ranger that Glen Echo Park had been a whites-only park.
“I was completely dumbfounded. I had been looking at pictures of the park during its heyday,” said Trachtman during a post-screening discussion. “It just had not occurred to me that everyone in those pictures was white. I was so shocked at my own ignorance.”
Trachtman’s 10-year production of “Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round” includes many still-living leaders from the protest coalition. Actors Jeffrey Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Bob Balaban, Peter Gallagher, Lee Grant and others give voice to this film’s history.
Today, Glen Echo is an events facility where visitors can still ride the carousel. “Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round” returns to Washington, D.C., to be included in the “JxJ: DC Jewish Film x Music Festival,” Sept. 15-19.
For more information, visit www.edcjcc.org
Get ahead of the DC/Dox Film Festival 2025 by visiting the festival website at dcdoxfest.com.
