Every year, Hollywood movie stars battle to win Oscars, but if you’re a filmmaker who appreciates fatherhood, you can compete to win an Atticus, named after iconic father figure Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962).
Winners receive $500 and an award called an “Atticus.” It’s two mockingbirds on a pedestal in a nod to the character from the classic book and movie, who Festival Director Allan Shedlin of Chevy Chase, Maryland, said “is still considered the best representation of a positively involved dad in his children’s lives.”
Finalists receive $250.
The third annual Daddying Film Festival & Forum returns May 17 and May 18 in Philadelphia.
“There are 3,000 international film festivals annually around the world, but there are none that are focused on the importance of father involvement,” Shedlin said. “Kids from first grade through undergraduate college are encouraged to send in films and short videos … and other children get to judge them. That was the first year, then the second year we also opened it up to independent filmmakers from around the world.”
That includes a screening of this year’s Sundance Film Festival Audience Award winner “Daughters,” offering a sneak peek at the acclaimed film before it eventually streams on Netflix.
“Daughters” is a documentary about a “daddy-daughter” dance filmed at the D.C. Jail.
“It’s what happens with the children and with the dads when they are involved in each other’s lives through a dance at the prison,” Shedlin said.
The co-director Angela Patton will hold a Q&A and will be introduced by her father, Shedlin said.
D.C. folks can enjoy a free virtual festival from May 2 to May 9.
“That’s where the audience from around the world gets to vote on each film in each of the different categories,” Shedlin said. “The winners of the films created by kids, all of the finalists receive $250 hopefully to be spent on some activity with their father or father figure. It’s not only fathers, grandfathers, uncles, big brothers, stepfathers, but it’s people who play a fatherly role — it could be a coach, a minister, a teacher.”
The name of the festival is intentional with an important distinction.
“We call it the Daddying Film Festival rather than the Fathering or Fatherhood Film Festival because we make a distinction between the term ‘daddy’ and the term ‘father,'” Shedlin said. “Fathering is a one-time biological act requiring zero commitment at all, just a shot of DNA. Daddying is a lifelong process that requires lifelong dedication, so that is the distinction we make and that’s what it’s about.”
Listen to our full conversation here.
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