Daddying Film Festival & Forum (D3F)

The Daddying Film Festival & Forum (D3F) is the world’s first and only film festival focused exclusively on promoting the importance of positive dad involvement for kids and families. In 2023, the Festival received submissions from students, dads, and indie filmmakers from 21 countries. The 2024 virtual Daddying Film Festival week runs from Thursday, May 2, through Thursday, May 9. The Daddying Film Forum will be held Friday, May 17, from 4-8 pm at Philadelphia’s Parkway Central Library. Tickets for the virtual festival and live Forum events are FREE.

Our relationship with our father – in its presence or its absence – is one of the most important relationships in our lives. Because kids are most directly impacted by a dad’s involvement or absence, the D3F offers students (1st grade through undergraduates) a creative outlet to freely express their feelings about their relationships with their dads or dad figures, and likewise, it provides a complementary opportunity for dads/dad figures.

D3F‘s mission is to:

• Shine a spotlight on the importance of dads in their presence and their absence.

• Provide opportunities for kids and fathers alike to reflect upon and express feelings about what daddying qualities are most important to them; what kind of dad a father wants to be, and what kind of dad a kid wants and needs.

• Provide opportunities for emotional authenticity, creativity, and originality.

• Portray a variety of family dynamics to explore and encourage constructive relationships.

• Demonstrate film- and/or video-making skills and production values.

The D3F 2023 program broadened its spotlight to include dads in its call-for-entries, as more men have come to recognize the critical role they can play in their kids’ lives, embraced the opportunity to do so, and moved from being perceived as an “understudy” to being accepted as a parenting “co-star.” In 2023, the D3F program also added a LIVE Daddying Film Forum, which brings children/youth together with their dads/dad figures to hear industry presentations, view D3F award-winning films, and examine thoughts, feelings, and insights in response to those films through group discussion and other creative means.

Students (1st grade through college undergraduates), dads/dad figures, and other independent filmmakers are eligible to submit films/videos that relate in some way to one or more of D3F‘s themes:

1. A letter to my father/A letter to my child(ren)

2. The most joyful/fun thing I ever did or wish I could do with my father and/or child(ren)

3. If I could make one wish come true for my dad and/or child(ren) it would be…

4. My Daddy dream

5. Men Caring – a film/video celebrating one of the many other faces of daddying, including men who play nurturing, fatherly roles and make a positive impact in the lives of children and youth. Examples include foster dads, adoptive dads, granddads, uncles, teachers, mentors and “big brothers,” inspirational philanthropists/patrons, and other daddying role models/VIP dads. The D3F Men’s Caring Award is sponsored by Equimundo.

Awards are presented to winners in the following categories: Elementary student (1st – 4th grade), Middle Grade (5th – 8th), High School, Undergraduate, Best Dad-created Film, Men’s Caring Award/Best Film Celebrating Dad Figures, Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, Best Animated Film, and Best Music Video. All D3F student finalists earn a $250 award for use toward an activity or project to enjoy with their dad/dad figure, and student winners earn an additional $250. Best Dad-created and Men’s Caring Award provide a $500 prize. All D3F winners, including non-student, indie filmmakers, earn an “Atticus,” a statuette symbolizing Atticus Finch from the 1962 film based on Harper Lee’s book To Kill a Mockingbird. 

For more information, visit: www.daddyingfilmfest.com