For the very first time in its history, Nigeria will be competing at the world’s biggest festival, Cannes, in the Une Certain Regard section. The representing film, titled My Father’s Shadow, is a co-production with the UK, and directed by Akinola Davies Jnr, who in 2021 was named winner of a Sundance short film award.
This is not the first time, My Father’s Shadow, which is set during Nigeria’s 1993 elections, has made the news. Weeks ago, its northern American rights were acquired by Mubi and the British actor Sope Dirisu was announced as the film’s the leading man. At the time, Davies Jnr said, “Working with the powerhouse that is Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, who brought such magic to his character and has taken the script to a whole new level, has been an incredible experience”.
With the Cannes selection, Davies Jnr now belongs to a select group of filmmakers who have appeared in the biggest independent film festival in the US and Europe’s biggest film festival. The news follows an announcement earlier in the year concerning the Nigerian government heading to Cannes in an official capacity.
The announcement was made by festival director Thierry Fremaux this morning as he read out details of this year’s selection of films. “He’s a young Nigerian movie-maker,” he said referring to Davies Jnr. “We’ll have to check…[if] it’s not the first time that Nigeria, a major cinema country with very special movies—Nollywood—is an official selection.”
It is indeed the first Nigerian film selected to compete at the world’s biggest festival. But the Nigerian director is not the only African at the festival. South African director Oliver Hermanus will have his latest production, The History of Sound, screen in the Competition section.
Other films also competing in the Un Certain Regard section include Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson’s debut, Eleanor the Great, Ishikawa Kei’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro novel, A Pale View of the Hills, and Once Upon A Time In Gaza by Arab and Tarzan Nasser, and actor Harris Dickinson’s first feature film, Urchin.
For the full list of Cannes competing films announced so far, see here.
