Akinola Davies Jr on My Father's Shadow: "We don't see enough nuanced representations of fatherhood, especially Black fatherhood"

Despite My Father's Shadow not being due for release in the UK until February, this year continues to be a buzzy one for director Akinola Davies Jr.

Having premiered in Un Certain Regard at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival (the first ever Nigerian film to be selected for the festival's Official Selection), leading the way at this year's British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) with a staggering 12 nominations, and now the current artist-in-residence at Somerset House, Davies is having a hell of a 2025.

Why not chuck in another accolade then, right? Named as part of the 2025 cohort for BAFTA Breakthrough (which is supported by Netflix), Davies says that it's "a real honour" to be recognised in such a way.

"It might be the first contact people have with me, but I've been working towards this for almost 15 years. So it's just a real honour to be recognised by BAFTA, which is massive. I'm really, really happy."

Over those 15 years, Davies tells me, there's been a lot of hard work and a continuation of not wanting to give up despite many occasions where he's been talked off a metaphorical ledge or two as a director and filmmaker.

With a background in creating videos and commercials for music artists and fashion brands, My Father's Shadow is Davies's feature-length film debut. The film, which stars Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, is set against the backdrop of the 1993 Nigerian presidential election and follows two brothers as they spend the day in Lagos with their father, understanding him more as an individual as the time goes on.

The film is not only heartfelt, engaging and witty, it's also tender and emotional in all the right places. The film stars newcomers and real-life brothers Godwin Chiemerie Egbo and Chibuike Marvellous Egbo, with that brotherly dynamic also reflected behind-the-scenes. Davies co-wrote My Father's Shadow with his older brother Wale, telling me that it was Wale who originally came up with the concept of the film.

"We're pretty close in the way we relate to each other, we have a lot of similar interests. But he'd written a short film called My Father's Shadow, which was basically what it would have been like to spend a day with our father, who we never knew because he passed when we were really young," Davies says. That was more than 10 years ago now, with the idea continuing to float around all the while.

When Davies's narrative short film Lizard screened at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and London Film Festival, was nominated for the BAFTA for Best British Short that year, and went on to win the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, it was then that the brothers thought they may actually get the opportunity to bring Wale's original screenplay to life in a feature film.

When Davies read his brother's original script years ago, he had a "huge emotional reaction", he remembers, saying that he was clear about the direction of the film from then. "I was like, 'Look, if we're going to make a film, I think we should make something that honours our childhood, our family, our country as much as possible, because you never know if you're going to get loads of opportunities to make films.' We just wanted to make something that we felt could serve more than just us."

Anyone who has a sibling will know it's not always a bed of roses and Davies refreshingly doesn't try to paint a picture of a working sibling relationship as such. Davies admits that Wale is super literal and very good with words compared to himself, who is "more abstract" in the way he thinks, naturally being better with images and pictures.

"I think we complement each other and balance out in that way. Working with a sibling is great – it's tough, fun and games. We have a healthy amount of debate and respect for each other. So it means no stone gets left unturned. We really chew the fat on every decision we make because also, we didn't study film. So, there's just a real premium of being as efficient as possible in our storytelling."

As a younger sibling, Davies also says that a massive upside to working with your older brother is a certain level of protection in being more creative. "I have someone who's cheerleading and encouraging a lot of ideas that I have and vice versa. Off Lizard, we developed a good working relationship and we just kept it up. We hope to keep it going as long as possible," he says.

When it comes to watching My Father's Shadow, viewers will undoubtedly be captivated by the framing of the story and the use of time passing as an added element of tension. With the 1993 presidential election forming an important narrative backdrop to the film, it may be the first time that many see the events of that tumultuous year characterised on the big screen.

But why was it important for Davies and his brother to also frame this story through the lens of these father-son dynamics in the first place? "We thought it was really important because we don't see enough nuanced representations of fatherhood, especially Black fatherhood," Davies tells me.

"I think the Black male figure gets a lot of stereotypes projected onto him. We thought we really needed to create a portrait of the men we are or aspire to be, and the men we've been surrounded with in many instances in our life. Also, we're raised by a huge old matriarchal group of women and that's always meant we have – for right or wrong – a lot more access to an emotional toolkit. We've always found that in the men surrounding us," he explains.

"I think it was really important to us to just try and create an alternative perspective, an alternative offering of what masculinity is. All too often, it's underserved."

It's never explained in the course of the film just how much Dìrísù's father figure is absent in the boy's lives, but we easily get the idea that by virtue of working in a city and trying to provide for his family, he misses out on spending significant chunks of time with his sons. Davies knows that the concept of this working class father having to work to better this family will be understood by some viewers but it's a narrative theme that again, feels underserved, Davies says, with the director really just wanting to provide some balance to the depiction.

As well as the storytelling of the film, the actual aesthetic of My Father's Shadow is another point of praise but it's something that Davies says he can't take sole credit for. Jermaine Edwards worked as director of photography on the film, with it being his first feature also. "He's an incredible Jamaican-British talent who has been invited to the ball many a time, but never asked to dance," Davies says.

In terms of reference points for the film and how he wanted it to look, Davies takes me through his Mount Rushmore of great directors. He speaks of early Spike Lee films and the way he photographs Black skin, Nigerian filmmaker Genevieve Nnaji, Rungano Nyoni's On Becoming A Guinea Fowl, Mati Diop's Atlantics, growing up on Steven Spielberg, and also Senagelese director Ousmane Sembène, who Davies regards as the "father of African cinema and is someone who we all aspire to be and to emulate".

More recently, having met American filmmaker Julie Dash, Davies feels as though they also share a similar film language relating to spirituality and mythological elements.

Davies knows his film, it's clear, and that comes from working in every department once he knew he wanted to forge a career in the industry. Having assisted a lot of directors, worked with friends and realised the parameters around storytelling in the world of fashion, Davies honestly can't say that he always knew he wanted to be a filmmaker when I ask him if that was the case.

"Eva Yates at the BBC and Rose Garnett were the first two people who ever mentioned the fact that they think I should make a feature film. I thought they were crazy," Davies laughs. "Like, these two white ladies are absolutely off their rocks! I sort of refused and said I'd make a short film, which was Lizard, and then off the success of that, the narrative world, if I'm honest, just really felt like a more accepting space.

"I'd always looked for value in fashion and music videos and very often, a lot of my stories just weren't necessarily being reciprocated or being accepted."

Garnett, who was the previous director of BBC Film, was someone who tried to serve underrepresented voices, Davies tells me. He continues: "A lot of women, a lot of people of colour, from different, diverse backgrounds – it's really [the BBC's] mandate in terms of being a public-funded institution and I think it's, in this day and age, extremely brave. But I also think it's extremely necessary. Just having people like that at the helm makes me feel a lot more supported and like I can really go hell for leather."

With My Father's Shadow being the first ever Nigerian film to be selected for the Official Selection at Cannes, Davies says that the conversations around Nigerian filmmaking and filmmakers from the continent in general were already ongoing and positive prior to his movie.

"I think there's an appetite in terms of us, a younger generation, trying to build bridges with our heritage and tell these stories. I think those of us who are first or second generation in a different country – which we're also a part of – are using the tools at our disposal to bring those stories to light. And also, trying to formulate bridges with working from home and engaging with the cinema industries back home," Davies says.

"I think what's always happened as Africans or people of colour... is that we're so accustomed to the normalisation of European and American cinema being the stories we've been fed and we understand. But I think it's incumbent on us to find ways to tell our stories because I think we know European history, know European culture. I think it's for us to not allow people to tell our stories, but be quite direct about us telling our own stories so we can represent ourselves and not be left with these stereotypical views of what it's like.

"Arthouse films probably have a place to play in that, because we don't necessarily have the access to big commercial budgets in those films. But I do think the stories are there, the storytellers are there. It just takes an interest from co-productions, from different countries and our countries, to be able to get those stories out. I think the success of My Father's Shadow is a prime example of Nigerian and British co-production and how far that can go when all parties are really invested in the type of story we're trying to tell."

The film has now premiered in Nigeria, with Davies describing the response to the film there as being "fantastic". "It was really important to us that we gave a Nigerian audience the first look. It's been really overwhelming on so many levels. History wasn't taught in school under military dictatorship. So a lot of Nigerians, especially in the diaspora and who are also my age or younger, it's their first contact with a lot of contemporary Nigerian history.

"As for the older generation, it's cathartic for them to see an experience that they went through, visualised on camera. It created this generational conversation which is beyond our wildest dreams. Nigerians are very proud of the film and have really been very accepting and fascinated just to see their experience being visualised on film."

In terms of the future, there's obviously the UK release for My Father's Shadow to come. It almost seems like a long time coming seeing as the film has been a deserved hot topic of conversation in community and film circles for some time now.

Aside from its upcoming release, Davies hopes to continue working with his brother but more generally for the industry, he hopes that all of the praise and accolades being bestowed on him are a source of inspiration for "someone else that looks like me". He hopes that South Asian voices are represented in the UK and that there's more opportunities for everyone – but does underline the importance of learning the industry, as he has done.

"It's all well and good having a creative brain or an idea or story, but you really have to know which allies are invested in your stories, which allies have created opportunities to tell those stories," he says.

"Off the back of successful films, you can get a certain amount of people trying to make films with you but in some of those instances, they want you to tell the stories they want to tell or their projection of what your experience is like. I think it takes a lot of you realising that you have to look for the people who want to tell the stories you want to tell, who are very interested in those narratives. I would say it's a two-way street but I just hope there's more."

He continues: "I think the best films I've seen this year – I've been to a lot of festivals – are international films. They're just so incredible because you learn so much about different places. You learn how similar our histories and our cultures are. You learn how how we're all connected in so many ways. I think if you just sit and listen to the news, it might seem a lot more disparaging, like there's just so much that separates us. I just think cinema and film have the power to really bring people together. I just really hope there's more opportunities for not just me, but just more stories."

Davies is under no illusion that many directors can suffer the "curse" of becoming blindsided by the fact that they're the 'leaders' of a production. The thing that Davies loves the most about filmmaking is the very thing that he thinks many people miss out on, which is the fact that it's a whole community effort.

"I wouldn't be speaking to you right now if I didn't love the people I work with and they have a certain level of love back for me because ultimately, they feel they're within a position to give me more. By them giving me more, it's reflected in what you see on screen. [We had a] first time cinematographer, first time writer, my brother, amazing producers. There's just so many people that get unsung during the process.

"I think a director's role is really just to reflect light back on all those people so they can have long and established careers and we can keep working together as well."

Read more Pass the Mic interviews:

• Grenfell: Uncovered's Olaide Sadiq – "I wanted to honour the victims but also make people angry"
• Wild Cherry's Nicôle Lecky: "I wanted this to be elevated and glossy, which we don't always do in British drama"
• Susan Wokoma on her short film Dark Skin Bruises Differently: "This wasn't the time to be centring whiteness in my stories"

My Father's Shadow comes to UK cinemas on 6th February 2026.

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