Akinola Davies Jr. on representing Nigerian cinema at Cannes with 'My Father's Shadow'
Euronews Culture sat down with filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. to discuss Nollywood, his debut film’s Cannes selection, his passion for shooting on film, the role of women in Nigerian society, and more.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/06/12/akinola-davies-jr-on-representing-nigerian-cinema-at-cannes-with-my-fathers-shadow
Spark your senses, wake your wonder. Euronews Culture seeks to show creativity in action and inspire our audience to explore the world through the five senses. Start your journey through the best of Europe's arts, gastronomy, traditions and high-end craftsmanship.
Euronews Culture sat down with filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. to discuss Nollywood, his debut film’s Cannes selection, his passion for shooting on film, the role of women in Nigerian society, and more.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/06/12/akinola-davies-jr-on-representing-nigerian-cinema-at-cannes-with-my-fathers-shadow
Spark your senses, wake your wonder. Euronews Culture seeks to show creativity in action and inspire our audience to explore the world through the five senses. Start your journey through the best of Europe's arts, gastronomy, traditions and high-end craftsmanship.
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00:00You never really set out to be the first in anything and we certainly weren't aware that
00:20it would be the first Nigerian film in selection. I think there's been Nigerian film to Cannes
00:24before but obviously not in selection so the experience was pretty overwhelming but like in
00:32the best way I think it's incredible to show work in a place that's full of cinephiles people who sort
00:41of love the craft and a place that has like such massive prestige. It being the first Nigerian film
00:47being in Cannes, Nigerians have really sort of like caught on to that and representing Nigeria to me is
00:54like a real badge of honor. I'm extremely proud to be Nigerian, proud to be African in general
01:01and I think that our stories are incredibly universal but I think there's probably become
01:08an increasing market for us for nuanced versions of our stories to travel across the world basically.
01:13You know what? Go and wear your clothes. You are following me to Lagos today.
01:22But mommy said you shouldn't leave the house. Then we should wait for her.
01:27And why don't you stay and wait for her? You can tell her I went with daddy to Lagos but she put you in charge.
01:34Hopefully your mommy comes back before we go but otherwise we just have to leave message for her.
01:39Go on now. Sharp, sharp. I don't have time.
01:47My Father's Shadow is a film about fatherhood, it's about nationhood, it's about brotherhood.
01:56These two brothers spending the gift of the day with their father who they don't regularly see.
02:02He takes them around Lagos to see the sort of struggles that he has to go through to provide for his family.
02:11They question his sort of absence and hold into account but on that given day that they're spending together
02:17there is a big election result that gets announced and he has to get them back home.
02:21I was in Nigeria during that period and so was my brother and we evidently knew that something was going on
02:28from the responses of like my mother and uncles and other family.
02:34You know we're probably a bit too young to understand the politics of it at the time
02:37but I think in our research we realised that it was quite a pivotal moment, formative moment in the country's history.
02:44something that maybe hasn't particularly been well documented maybe up until now and also
02:51just like a really important story to sort of tell because Nigeria I think has a big part to play
02:58in the sort of growth and development of Africa in general and even the world in general and I think
03:04you know to a certain extent it hasn't quite fulfilled that potential yet.
03:10it's had you know like shimmering moments of being able to do that but I think in order to really sort of
03:16shift the dial and move things forward we have to be able to tell our own stories
03:23in a way that's nuanced for us as opposed to like an outside perspective.
03:29um so I think I think 1993 holds a lot in terms of Nigerian, contemporary Nigerian history and I think it's important to
03:42know what happened and who was around in that period for sure.
03:46Why are you taking that all our business?
04:01I shoot a lot on film. I love the pace of shooting on film. I love the imperfections of shooting on film.
04:11I think it's a very generous way to work making a film because you get to spend more time with your
04:15cast and crew and you get to rehearse. Two of my three leads had never been in a film before
04:20and I didn't think I didn't want to put them in an environment where we can nitpick their performance.
04:26It was challenging to say the least because there's no labs on the continent so we had to
04:31we had to do like a shuttle of things going back and forth so we wouldn't see the rushes for
04:36almost a week so we couldn't strike sets for a week but thematically we were shooting a period
04:43film so shooting on film really helped but politically I'd probably say I wanted to see
04:49the Lagos I grew up in on the most beautiful medium in my opinion and I don't think I had been exposed to
04:56a lot of that in my youth.
04:58So in as much as possible when I shoot in Nigeria I want to shoot on film because I think Nigeria and
05:03Lagos is incredibly cinematic and it deserves to be on celluloid.
05:08Yes daddy!
05:09Hopefully my father's shadow is like breaking ground for next generation of filmmakers to see that it's
05:18possible to do it you know obviously like I come with a certain level of privilege I was born in the
05:22UK my films financed in the UK predominantly but obviously and co-produced by a Nigerian production
05:31company Nigerian talent Nigerian crew so there's a lot of collaboration in there but obviously you
05:38know I have to also say that it comes with a certain level of privilege you know having Mubi,
05:45Element, Match Factory, Fremantle, BBC, BFI all involved you know that might not be the case for every
05:53filmmaker but I think you know I want to acknowledge that and say that there is a way to sort of get to
06:00this point but obviously it takes a lot of collaboration a lot of forward thinking and a lot of
06:05groundwork I think Nollywood is like incredibly rich it's got a beautiful tapestry in terms of
06:11storytelling in terms of creative in terms of technical prowess crews and actors and it's something
06:19I'm I wear even more as a badge of honour in terms of representing because I think it's also a young
06:26fledgling industry maybe now there's a commercial necessity in Nollywood but hopefully films like
06:32mine start to branch out to create more space for art house sort of narratives more dramas more
06:40nuanced dramas and evidently the audiences are quite interested in that