The British Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr. and his brother Wale were both toddlers when their father died. As adults, they could hardly remember him. Then Wale had an idea for movie. What if, by some movie miracle, they had gotten to spend a day with their dad?<\/p>\n
In \u201cMy Father\u2019s Shadow,\u201d the Davies brothers pay tribute to him in a shattering father-son tale set across such a day in Nigeria. The film, Akinola’s directing debut, has gone on to become one of the most acclaimed films<\/a> of the past year, making history at the Cannes Film Festival<\/a> and winning awards around the world.<\/p>\n A powerfully autobiographic work resonate with memory and loss, \u201cMy Father’s Shadow\u201d<\/a> is the culmination of more than a decade\u2019s worth of the Davies’ brothers wondering. Wale first sent Akinola a script in 2012. Wale had never before written a movie script; Akinola had never read one.<\/p>\n \u201cWith zero context, he sent it to me and I just had this real emotional reaction,\u201d Akinola Davies said in an interview at last year in Cannes. \u201cI actually cried when I read it because I had never conceived of the idea of spending a day with my father and what we would say to him and what he would be like.\u201d<\/p>\n In the film, set over a single day in Lagos in 1993, \u201cGangs of London\u201d actor \u1e62\u1ecdp\u1eb9\u0301 D\u00ecr\u00eds\u00f9<\/a> plays the father, Folarin. At the family\u2019s home outside Lagos, the young brothers (Chibuike Marvellous Egbo and Godwin Egbo) return home to unexpectedly find him inside. They hardly ever see him \u2014 he works in Lagos \u2014 but Folarin takes them along on a trip in the city that will be revelatory for the boys.<\/p>\n It’s set on a pivotal day for Nigeria, when democracy is hanging in the balance. Having taken power in a coup, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida refuses to accept the results of a democratic election. \u201cMy Father’s Shadow\u201d evolves as not just a conjured portrait of Davies’ father, but of a national moment of hope. In both cases, the dream is fleeting.<\/p>\n At its Cannes debut last May, \u201cMy Father\u2019s Shadow\u201d made history. It was the first Nigerian film in the festival’s official selection, a milestone that Nigeria, a country with its own large film industry, nicknamed Nollywood<\/a>, celebrated with a new presence at the global cinema gathering.<\/p>\n \u201cIt means a lot to people back in Nigeria. It means we can exist on these platforms and our stories can exist in these spaces,\u201d said Davies. \u201cIt\u2019s a testament to talent that\u2019s around in Nigeria. It\u2019s a testament to the stories that are there. It\u2019s a testament to the industry that\u2019s flourishing.\u201d<\/p>\nA first for Nigeria<\/h2>\n