Akinola Davies Jr.

Davies was born in London and raised between there and Lagos, Nigeria,^[1] as well as the United States. He is Yoruba.^[2] He began his career assisting photographers and filmmakers before completing a workshop at the New York Film Academy in 2009.^[3][4][5]

He went on to start creating music videos and commercials for brands like Gucci, Acne Studios, Moncler, Kenzo, Mulberry, and Louis Vuitton.^[6][7]

His 2020 short film Lizard, inspired by his childhood in Nigeria won the Grand Jury Prize for Short Film at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for Best British Short Film at the 2021 BAFTA Awards. Lizard also received a nomination from the London Critics Circle Film Awards and was selected for the BFI London Film Festival and Raindance Film Festival.^[8]

In 2025, Davies made his feature-length directorial debut with My Father's Shadow, co-written with his brother Wale Davies.^[9][10] My Father's Shadow premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, making history as the first Nigerian film selected for Cannes' official selection,^[11] winning the Caméra d'Or – Special Mention.^[12] The film also received severals nominations on awards shows, winning the British Independent Film Award for Best Director and the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Director.^[13]