After directing the successful short film “Lizard“, Nigerian director Akinola Davis Jr is at Cannes 78, in the Un certain regard with his debut feature “My Father’s shadow.“
Co-written with his brother Wale, the film is a semi- autobiographical tale set in 1993’s Nigerian election crisis and it follows two brothers on a trip with their estranged father.
“My Father’s shadow” manages to tell us about the history of a country through the filter of one’s personal experience. Davis Jr. lets us breathe Nigeria of that particular political moment in time but at the same time he makes a delicate coming of age.
“My Father’s shadow” , is also the first film from Nigeria to be selected to play in the Cannes Film Festival.
Plot
A semi-autobiographical tale set over the course of a single day in the Nigerian metropolis Lagos during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis. The story follows a father, estranged from his two young sons, as they travel through the massive city while political unrest threatens their journey home.