My Father’s Shadow is returning to Nigerian cinemas this month. Akinola Davies Jr.’s film — which follows a father and his two young sons, played by real-life brothers Godwin Chiemerie Egbo and Chibuike Marvellous Egbo, as they navigate Lagos during the tense period around the annulled 1993 election, with Sope Dirisu leading — comes back to the big screen carrying more accolades than almost any Nigerian film in history.
The film was selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2025, where it received a Special Mention for the Caméra d’Or. It won Best Director at the British Independent Film Awards, took prizes at the Gotham Awards, earned a BAFTA nomination, and was the United Kingdom’s official submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature. And in May 2026, it swept the AMVCA with five awards including Best Movie and Best Director. The re-release brings all of that recognition back to the audience that matters most to the film’s identity: the Nigerian theatrical audience.
Why a Re-Release Matters
Theatrical re-releases are uncommon in Nigerian cinema. The economics of the exhibition market generally favour a steady stream of new titles over the re-platforming of films that have already had their run. That My Father’s Shadow is being brought back is a commercial decision grounded in a specific bet: that the AMVCA sweep has created new audience demand from Nigerians who did not see the film during its initial run and now want to see the year’s most decorated film on the big screen rather than waiting for streaming.
It is also a statement about where this film belongs. My Father’s Shadow was shot on 16mm, built around a single day, structured with the formal ambition of a film that wants to be seen in the specific conditions cinema provides — the dark room, the large image, the undivided attention. A film about Lagos during the 1993 election crisis, made with this level of craft, gains something in a cinema that it loses on a phone screen. The re-release insists on that. It says: this film was made for this format, and the format is available again.
The Theatrical Argument
RollCallAfrica has maintained a clear editorial position on the value of theatrical exhibition for serious African cinema. My Father’s Shadow is the strongest possible evidence for that position. It is a film that succeeded at the highest levels of the international festival circuit, won its domestic industry’s top honour, and is now returning to cinemas because the theatrical experience is the one that does the film justice. The re-release is not nostalgia. It is the film claiming the format it was built for, at the moment its acclaim has created the demand to fill the seats.
For the Nigerians who missed it the first time, this is the chance to see — in the format it deserves — the film that represented the country at Cannes, in London, in New York, and on the AMVCA stage. RollCallAfrica’s recommendation is simple: go.
— Adaeze Okoye. RollCallAfrica, Lagos. 6 June 2026. Sources: FilmOne Entertainment (re-release confirmation), Cannes Film Festival official (2025 Un Certain Regard, Caméra d’Or Special Mention), AMVCA 2026 official results (Africa Magic), British Independent Film Awards, BAFTA.
