DEAR DADDY
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Filmmaker Janks Morton has spent the last four years tackling prevalent social issues such as parental resentment and stereotyping in the African-American community and now, the Laurel-resident has completed his fifth feature-length film, which he hopes will bring healing to young women dealing with the effects of fatherlessness and cause fathers to reconnect with their daughters.
His most recent work titled, “Dear Daddy: A Message to our Fathers,” is a progression of works he has done in his previous films and focuses on the effects of fatherlessness on young African-American girls.
Morton has lived in Prince George’s County his entire life and now resides in Laurel.
He graduated from Largo High School in Upper Marlboro and graduated from Bowie State University in Bowie in 1988 with a business degree in industrial psychology.
After college, he went into health care sales but owned his own music label. He left the music industry in 2000, but said while making music and music videos, he learned all of the skills needed to film, edit, direct and produce feature-length films.
Morton recalled watching TV in 2006 and hearing a statistic from the Census Bureau that left a lasting impression — more than 70-percent of African-American women are born out of wedlock. He said that number is now more accurately being reported at 72 percent, saying that the problem is getting worse, not better.
Additionally, he said 82.3 percent of African-American children born since 1990 are guaranteed to live in a home without their biological father sometime before graduating high school. Morton began working on the film in 2009. As he owned his own equipment, the $8,600 he raised went to promotion and screenings.
He said it is very important for fathers to be in the lives of their daughters to listen, care for them and be there during their times of need.
“It’s no longer a function of poverty or education or income. This is one of most pervasive issues affecting the black community,” he said.
The film features teenage girls who write letters to their fathers and read their letters in front of the camera and provide testimony to how growing up fatherless has impacted their lives.
A free screening was held on Oct. 1 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Darnice Wright, founder of Wright Vision Foundation, a District-based nonprofit organization for mentoring young women, said she attended the screening and said she had never seen such a profound film.
“So many homes are broken and girls mask their pain in so many different ways,” she said. “This film shows that you can’t just put a Band-Aid on the issue. You have to go deep and stitch the layers of hurt and pain.”
She said her foundations offers a mentoring program for 16- to 18-year-old females, some of whom were featured in the film.
The film’s trailer features an interview with District resident Jasmine Gibson, 18, whose father is not involved in her life.
District resident Landy Thompson said he has known Gibson for more than 16 years and is like a father to her. He said 98 percent of the youth in his program grew up without fathers in their homes.
“I think this is one of the boldest films of our time that brings to light a real situation that has yet to be talked about in the black community, or any community,” he said.
Morton said he hopes people watch the film to start the discussion about a matter few are talking about.
“What I do is try to take on those conversations that we do not want to have. The spaces that I navigate in are the tough conversations,” he said.
djgross@gazette.net
