My Father's Shadow

Two young brothers are playing in a house on the Nigerian countryside when they unexpectedly run into their father, Folarin. After the youngest son, Akin, begs for Folarin to spend more time with him, he agrees to bring them along to his work in Lagos. The family board a minibus, but it soon runs out of fuel and they are forced to hitchhike the rest of the way to Lagos. Once there, Folarin introduces his sons to his workplace, where it is revealed he has not been paid for six months. After a colleague tells Folarin that their manager should be back by nightfall, Folarin resolves to stick around Lagos with his children until then.

Walking the city streets, Folarin and the children notice the persistent presence of the military. They do various activities together, visiting an amusement park, enjoying street food and swimming at the beach. Throughout the day, Folarin suffers from unexplained nosebleeds. He bonds with his children, teaching them the value of fraternal love and explaining that in his childhood, his own brother died from drowning. Following his brother's death, Folarin kept seeing visions of his brother's restless spirit, which eventually subside when Folarin names his son Remi after his brother.

As evening falls, the family returns to Folarin's workplace, where the manager has still not shown up. Folarin's colleague invites the family to go to a café with him, where they drink palm wine and watch a televised announcement about the 1993 Nigerian presidential election. Folarin leaves his children to talk to a young woman working at the café called Abike, but is followed by his son Remi who learns that his father is having an affair with her. When the Nigerian military announces that they have annulled the election, the café devolves into chaos as people angrily take to the streets. Folarin quickly flees the scene with his sons and tries to bring them home, but they are stopped at a military checkpoint by an aggressive soldier who claims to recognize Folarin from a violent incident from the previous week. Folarin's nose bleeds heavily and they are eventually allowed to pass.

Some time later, Folarin has died and Akin, Remi and their mother attend his funeral.^[10]

• Sope Dirisu as Folarin
• Godwin Chiemerie Egbo as Akinola (Akin)
• Chibuike Marvellous Egbo as Olaremi (Remi)^[11]
• Uzoamaka Power as Abike

The film had its world premiere at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 2025 and North American Premiere in the Centrepiece section on September 8 at the Toronto International Film Festival.^[16] Its wide release in Nigerian cinemas followed on September 19.

It also screened in the International competition section of the 56th International Film Festival of India in November 2025 where it won the Silver Peacock Special Jury Award.^[17]

The streaming service Mubi acquired distribution rights for North America, the U.K., Ireland, and Turkey in February 2025.^[6] The film was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 6 February 2026.^[18]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 82 critics' reviews are positive, as of May 2026. The website's consensus reads: "Weaving high-stakes political commentary with rich personal dynamics that are bolstered by Sope Dirisu's commanding performance, My Father's Shadow casts a highly promising light on feature-debut director Akinola Davies' future."^[19] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 based on 17 critics, which the site labels as "universal acclaim".^[20]

Early reviews following the film's premiere at Cannes from media such as Variety, Deadline Hollywood, The Guardian, IndieWire, and Screen Daily were widely favorable.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

Caryn James and Nicholas Barber of BBC named it one of the best films of 2026.^[26]

• List of submissions to the 98th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
• List of British submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film