Filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. joined Visionaries with Alice Aedy to discuss his historic achievement at the Cannes Film Festival, where his debut feature, My Father's Shadow, became the first-ever Nigerian film to premiere in competition. Davies Jr. not only premiered the film in the Un Certain Regard category, but he also received a special mention, which he considers an "award in of itself for like an outstanding feat or introduction as a filmmaker". This recognition, he humbly noted, is a "real badge of honor" that he hopes provides an opportunity for Nigerian filmmakers to "just dream a bit bigger".
The conversation on Visionaries with Alice Aedy revealed that Davies Jr.’s path to cinematic success required a profound level of self-trust, which he described as needing a "certain level of delusion". He lives by the saying, "Fortune favors the brave," and stresses that filmmakers must "back yourself because no one else is going to believe in you as much as you believe in yourself".
Davies Jr.’s success is built upon years of focused effort and deep collaboration, particularly with his elder brother, Wle, whom he idolized. It was Wle who sent Davies Jr. the first screenplay he had ever read—his own—which later led to their partnership. The two co-wrote the short film Lizard, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2021. Following that success, Davies Jr. campaigned for the opportunity to direct his brother's original 2012 feature idea, which became My Father’s Shadow.
Related article - Uphorial Shopify
How Director Akinola Davies Jr Made History at Cannes Film Festival
For Davies Jr., working almost exclusively with family and friends is essential because the relationships are built on love and care, creating a foundation that ensures ego does not "supersede what's happening". He seeks out collaborators who are "a bit of an outsider" and "hungry," believing they will be grateful for the opportunity and give their all.
The filmmaker views his art as inherently political. He believes being an artist is a "privilege" and that to "exist in privilege is quite political". His work aims to "create a conversation". My Father's Shadow speaks to a Nigerian history and politics that many are unaware of, and he hopes Nigerians, for whom the film is fundamentally made, get to see it and tell him what it means to them. The film's political nature, he believes, is the reason it achieved its historic premiere at Cannes.
Despite his historic debut, Davies Jr. remains grounded through constant work and a relentless pursuit of feedback. He stated that he is "always looking for critique" and deliberately lets "everybody read" his scripts because he does not want to be blindsided and wants to "know the worst thing you think about it". He frequently cycles between the glamorous red carpet of the Croisette in Cannes and shooting low-budget music videos in a community center in Deptford, a practice he finds "very grounding" and necessary to "keep topping up my hours".
Reflecting on his ambitions, Davies Jr. noted that he is very goal-oriented, setting broad intentions for himself, such as wanting to be established by age 30 and making a film by 35. Now 40, having made his first feature, he sees his success as a victory already secured, saying that whether or not the film went to Cannes, he had already "climbed a mountain," and that "just making it to the summit or even to the base is like good enough". Ultimately, his goal is not just to be creatively gifted or technically proficient, but to be a great collaborator, defining an artist as someone who has the art of collaborating and the art of "holding space for people so they can give their best within a collaboration".
