While Nigeria has long been known for Nollywood, the industry has never had a film make it into the Cannes Film Festival’s prestigious Official Selection. That changed this year with the film “My Father’s Shadow.”

Cannes

Nigeria’s film industry, known as Nollywood, has reached a significant milestone with the selection of 'My Father’s Shadow' for the Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection. This marks the first time a Nigerian film has been featured in this prestigious category, reflecting the increasing recognition of Nigerian storytelling and filmmaking on the global stage.

Directed by British-Nigerian Akinola Davies Jr. and written with his brother Wale, the film is a family drama set during the tumultuous 1993 Nigerian general election. The film’s success at Cannes, including a special mention for Davies Jr., coincides with new government initiatives to further develop Nigeria’s film sector, aiming to boost economic growth, create jobs, and combat piracy.

Nigeria’s film debut at the Cannes Film Festival

The glitz. Cannes is like the biggest festival in the world. The glamour. Cannes has it all when it comes to the magic of the movies. It kind of creates a platform for people to sort of like dream and to be inspired to want to tell more stories and tell their own stories. But before this year the second most prolific film industry in the world had never debuted a film as part of Cannes' official selection. That all changed with My Father's Shadow. Nigerian storytelling, Nigerian cinema has a lot to offer the world and we're really looking forward to not only what this festival can do for our film, but for the industry of filmmaking back in Nigeria. The film portrays a family drama set against the backdrop of the 1993 Nigerian general election which was annulled, prompting civil unrest. It was directed by British Nigerian Akinola Davis Jr. and written with his brother Wale. When we grew up we'd always meet people and they would tell us stories about our dad. It was kind of good and bad in a way because it's exciting to hear these stories but equally they have the stories and we don't. Nollywood produces more than 2,500 films every year. The only country that produces more is India. According to a 2023 industry report by NEC Live, film production and distribution in Nigeria was a $6.4 billion business in 2022 with a number only expected to grow. One of the partners behind the prestige film was Lagos-based Fatherland Productions, co-founded by the Davis brothers and Funbi Ogunbanwa. Our whole company exists to just redefine the African narrative. It's saying, this is who we are but we're not just this, we're not just that. Let's tell you who we are, let's show you who we are, let's show you our world. Shot on location in Lagos with a predominantly Nigerian and diaspora cast and crew, the film is a significant example of how the local industry worked alongside international producers. It's my first time working in Nigeria. I felt such pride in returning to the country to be able to contribute to the cultural tapestry. The history of Nigerian cinema is deep and rich so to have a contribution to that really edifies my sense of Nigerian-ness. In recent years, the country's industry has ticked off a list of firsts, with films premiering in competition at festivals in Berlin, Sundance and now Cannes, each time bringing a different perspective to the big screen. We just really wanted to capture the essence of the city from a very grounded level. I think a lot of people see the sort of high-end, nouveau riche aspects of Lagos, but I think what really is the lifeblood and the sort of cells and the veins of the city is how working-class people move and operate within Lagos. Lagos truly was a person in this film. If you live in Lagos, there's a pulse, there's a beat, there's an energy that you can't actually quite describe until you experience it on some level. After its premiere at the festival, the film was met with instant acclaim and went on to win a special mention for first-time feature director Akinola Davies Jr. It's not just the film that made waves at Cannes. At the festival's film market, the Nigerian government launched the Screen Nigeria project and a raft of ambitious new initiatives as it looks to boost the nation's film industry. We're trying to leverage on our culture, our content and creativity to bring in economic growth and expansion into Nigeria and our commitment or our goal is to ensure that we contribute at least $100 billion to increase the GDP by 2030. I think not only will we hit that number by 2030, I think we'll surpass it. And at the same time we're also trying to have a job creation strategy. At least 2 million jobs by 2030. The efforts of the government-funded Screen Nigeria are multi-pronged and include establishing funds and online platforms for creatives to develop projects as well as building out the infrastructure to support filmmakers. Screen Nigeria also plans to reform film distribution in the country to help curb piracy, an issue that wipes out at least 50% of industry revenue in Africa, according to UNESCO estimates. Part of the goal is to attract international productions to Nigeria. The other goal is to nurture homegrown voices and talent. We want to show people who we are, what we are, how we live, and let them be able to connect with us. My Father's Shadow is a prime example of what can happen when you have these types of international conversations. The time is now. Everybody needs to put their hands to the deck. Our diaspora is massive and everywhere, some of the biggest stars in the world, across film, television, not just on-screen but off-screen, executives everywhere, they're all Nigerian. You see what music is doing? Trust me, film is gonna hit harder.

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