EXCLUSIVE: Akinola Davies Jr’s My Father’s Shadow has secured French distribution through Le Pacte ahead of its world premiere next month in Can
EXCLUSIVE: Akinola Davies Jr’s My Father’s Shadow has secured French distribution through Le Pacte ahead of its world premiere next month in Cannes’s Un Certain Regard sidebar.
The film has Gangs Of London star Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù in a leading role and marks British-Nigerian director Davies Jr.’s transition to feature filmmaking following his Bafta-nominated and Sundance-winning miniature Lizard. The Match Factory handles international sales.
My Father’s Shadow is a semi-autobiographical tale set over the course of a single day in the Nigerian capital Lagos during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis. The story follows a father, estranged from his two newborn sons, as they travel through the massive city while political unrest threatens their journey home.
Alice Labadie, acquisitions director at Le Pacte, said: “We are beyond thrilled and proud to be working with Akinola Davies Jr on his first film. We feel he is a unique filmmaker, and will count as one of the most important new voices in cinema.”
The film is produced by Rachel Dargavel for Element Pictures and Funmbi Ogunbanwo for Fatherland Productions. The executive producers are Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe for Element Pictures, Eva Yates for BBC Film and Ama Amapadu for the BFI. Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, Wale Davies and Akinola Davies Jr also act as executive producers.
It is presented by BBC Film and BFI, in association with the Match Factory, Fremantle, Electric Theatre Collective and MUBI, an Element Pictures production in association with Crybaby and Fatherland.
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