Set against the backdrop of the 1993 presidential elections, My Father’s Shadow takes place in Lagos and follows two young brothers as they spend a day around the troubled city with their father…
By Vivian Nneka Nwajiaku
British-Nigerian filmmaker, Akinola Davies Jr., is set to make his feature directorial debut with a new film, My Father’s Shadow, from a screenplay co-written by Davies Jr. and his brother, Wale Davies.
Set against the backdrop of the 1993 presidential elections, My Father’s Shadow takes place in Lagos and follows two young brothers as they spend a day around the troubled city with their father, during a tumultuous time in Nigerian history.
British-Nigerian actor, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù,will star as Folarin, their estranged father who struggles to provide and to get the boys safely home.
Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù is most popular for his role in Gangs of London (2020), where he plays Elliot Finch, a police officer turned gang kingpin. He is also known for his lead roles in the British period drama, Mr. Malcolm’s List (2022) and horror thriller, His House (2020), as well as his appearance in the third season of Slow Horses (2022), a British spy thriller series.
Akinola Davies Jr. is the director of the 2020 short film, Lizard, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and the award for Best Short Narrative at the Blackstar International Film Festival, the premier film festival for filmmakers of colour.
The short film, which he also co-wrote with his brother, Wale Davies, was nominated for Best British Short Film at the British Academy Film Awards in the same year.
Film critic, Jerry Chiemeke, reviewing the short film for Afrocritik, found it to be a compelling watch that is “rounded in ways that would give feature-length narratives a run for their money.”
In an earlier exclusive interview with Afrocritik, Davies Jr. spoke about writing stories that Nigerians can find relatable, and the logistics of shooting films in Nigeria. “I definitely want to make feature films, and I especially want to make a feature film in Nigeria,” he told us, “I want to understand how to make a film from a Nigerian perspective, as well as a British and an American perspective, and then see what works and what doesn’t”.
My Father’s Shadow, which was shot on location in Lagos and wrapped production in 2024, has been acquired by Mubi for distribution in US, UK, Canada, Ireland, and Turkey. Details on release dates as well as distribution within Africa will be shared in the coming months.
The film is co-produced by Element Pictures, the Irish production house credited with the Oscar-winning Poor Things (2023) and the Cannes Film Festival Winner, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024), along with BBC Film and the British Film Institute.