Following its acclaimed debut at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it earned a Special Mention for the Caméra d’Or, the first Nigerian film to do so, Akinola Davies Jr.’s semi-autobiographical feature My Father’s Shadow has released its first official trailer.
The film, distributed by Mubi, arrives in select theaters on February 6, 2026.
Set over the course of a single, high-stakes day in Lagos during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis, My Father’s Shadow explores the fragile relationship between a father and his two estranged sons as political unrest threatens to pull them apart once again.
Sope Dirisu stars as Folarin, a man trying to bond with the young boys he barely knows (played by real-life brothers Chibuike Marvellous Egbo and Godwin Egbo) while violence, uncertainty, and chaos erupt around them.
For Davies, a BAFTA-nominated, Sundance Award–winning filmmaker whose work has shaped global culture across film, fashion, art, and music, the project is deeply personal. Co-written with his brother Wale Davies, the story draws from the brothers’ own history and the broader turbulence of Nigeria’s political past.
Speaking with Deadline, Davies said the historical backdrop was essential to understanding both the film and the country that shaped it.
“The 1993 election helped us create a huge amount of tension and tell the story of what actually happened in that period in Nigeria,” he explained. “It also helps people understand the history of Nigerians, as well as the diaspora… and the world.”
Though Davies was just 20 months old when his father died, he said the script moved him in ways he didn’t anticipate. “I’d never really conceived of the idea of spending a day with my father… someone I’m named after and never got to know,” he shared.
The director also reflected on the fascination the world has with Nigeria, often through Afrobeats, fashion, and the country’s global creative footprint, and his desire to offer a deeper layer of understanding. “People have this obsession about Nigeria… but it serves to know a little bit more than just those things, because it’s a really magical and complex place.”
Produced by Rachel Dargavel and Funmbi Ogunbanwo, My Father’s Shadow has already traveled an impressive festival circuit following Cannes, screening at TIFF, London, Hamburg, Karlovy Vary, Athens, Chicago, and more.
Mubi will release My Father’s Shadow in select U.S. theaters on February 6, 2026. Check out the trailer.
