Akinola Davies Jr. reckons with Nigeria's past in My Father's Shadow

The article reports that Akinola Davies Jr.'s debut feature My Father's Shadow, set in Lagos during Nigeria's 1993 presidential election and co-written with his brother Wale, explores personal and collective memory and opens in Toronto on Feb. 13 with wider release from Feb. 20.

Akinola Davies Jr.'s first feature, My Father's Shadow, frames cinema as a space for memory and layered time. The film follows a father and his two young sons through Lagos during the contested 1993 presidential election. Davies developed the screenplay with his older brother, Wale Davies, drawing on their family loss and political interest. The work combines everyday scenes and non-linear, time-conscious sequences influenced by Yoruba ideas about time and ancestral dialogue. Key details: - My Father's Shadow is the debut feature by British-Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. - The film was the first Nigerian movie selected in the Cannes Film Festival's Official Selection. - It was co-written with Davies's older brother, Wale Davies, and draws on their father's death and family history. - The story is set over a single day in Lagos during the 1993 presidential election and follows Folarin and his sons as they seek unpaid wages. - British-Nigerian actor Sope Dirisu plays Folarin. - Davies frames the film's non-linear and dreamlike elements as a form of supernatural drama rooted in Yoruba conceptions of time. - The article notes a theatrical opening in Toronto on Feb. 13, with expansion to other cities from Feb. 20. Summary: The film uses personal family memory to engage with a pivotal moment in Nigeria's political history and to explore how past, present and imagined futures interact. It opens in Toronto on Feb. 13 and is scheduled to expand to additional cities on Feb. 20. Further distribution details or subsequent screenings are not detailed in the article.