My Father’s Shadow

Akinola Davies Jr.’s extraordinary debut feature is both intimate and epic. It’s a deeply personal family story set against the turbulence of 1993 Lagos during a pivotal national election promising a shift from military rule to democracy in Nigeria. When young brothers Remi and Akin unexpectedly accompany their oft-absent father to the city to collect his long-overdue salary, what unfolds is a rich journey through memory, masculinity, and a country on the cusp of fragile transformation.

Drawn loosely from Davies’ own experiences and co-written with his brother Wale, My Father’s Shadow is anything but conventional. The film begins in rural quiet and gradually delves into urban disarray, as the boys try to make sense of their father, the city, and the shifting codes of a world they’ve barely known.