October 24-27, 2021

And So I Stayed

Synopsis

And So I Stayed is an award-winning documentary about survivors of abuse fighting for their lives and spending years behind bars. These women paid a steep price with long prison sentences, lost time with loved ones, and painful memories. Activist and formerly incarcerated survivor Kim Dadou Brown, who met her wife while incarcerated, is a driving force in the passage of New York’s Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA), a new law meant to prevent survivors from receiving harsh prison sentences for their acts of survival. Nikki Addimando, a mother of two young children, suffered the consequences when a judge didn’t follow the law’s guidelines. Tanisha Davis, a single mother who was ripped away from her son in 2013, is hopeful the new law is her way out of a harsh prison sentence.

This film is made for and by survivors. For them/us to feel heard, seen, and believed. Read more about the film in The New York Times.

Filmmaker Biographies

Natalie Pattillo (Co-Director, Producer, Writer) is a New York-based multimedia journalist. Her reporting bylines include the New York Times, MSNBC, VICE, Jezebel, New York Magazine, Al Jazeera America and Salon. In 2020, she was awarded the Media Award from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She received a Master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School in 2017. Because Natalie has experienced domestic violence in a past relationship, her mission to uplift survivors and their stories is a personal one. Natalie’s own experiences as a survivor, as well as the passing of her sister who was killed at the hands of an abusive boyfriend in 2010, helps her understand what position the survivors in the film might have been in when they were fighting for their lives.

Daniel A. Nelson (Co-Director, Producer, Director of Photography) worked as a cinematographer and researcher on Oscar-nominated director David France's feature-length documentary The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, which celebrates the lasting political legacy of trans icon Marsha P. Johnson and seeks to finally solve the mystery of her unexplained death, that premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and landed on Netflix. Daniel received his Master's from the Columbia Journalism School in documentary filmmaking in 2016. His thesis at Columbia was a short documentary called Posture about the controversial world of competitive yoga, which premiered at the 2017 Long Island International Film Expo and was published on Yoga Journal.