It’s been a winning season for My Father’s Shadow and its creator, Akinola Davies Jr. After taking home the Grand Jury Prize at the Nairobi-based NBO Film Festival, the Nigerian-British filmmaker has landed a nomination for Breakthrough Director at the 2025 Gotham Awards: one of the most credible markers of independent film success.
The Gotham Awards recognise first-time directors whose debut features show creative control and a strong sense of identity. For Davies Jr., it adds another international milestone in a year that’s seen his film travel across continents and audiences.
A Year of Recognition
At the NBO Film Festival, My Father’s Shadow was singled out by jurors for its emotional depth and clarity of vision. It’s a powerful and deeply personal work, capturing themes of identity, family, and loss that connect far beyond its setting.
The October 29 win added to the film’s growing list of honours, following its recent selection as the United Kingdom’s official submission for the 2026 Academy Awards in the Best International Feature category.
For Davies Jr., who has built a career around visually grounded, emotionally resonant stories, the recognition feels earned. His earlier short, Lizard, which won at Sundance in 2021, already hinted at the kind of filmmaker he was becoming. My Father’s Shadow is a clear continuation of that growth.
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The Gotham Awards Connection
The Gotham Awards have long been seen as an early pulse check for award season, highlighting independent films that often go on to dominate at larger ceremonies. This year’s event will take place on December 1 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York and feature ten major categories, including Best Feature, Best Director, and Breakthrough Director: Davies Jr.’s category.
He’ll be in strong company. My Father’s Shadow also earned Sope Dirisu a nomination for Outstanding Lead Performance.
Other major contenders include Harris Dickinson, Urchin, Sarah Friedland, Familiar Touch, Jafar Carson Lund, Eephus, and Constance Tsang, Blue Sun Palace.
For Nigerian and Black British cinema, the Gotham recognition feels like another small shift in visibility and proof that stories from African and diaspora filmmakers aren’t sitting at the margins anymore.
Nairobi to New York
The NBO Film Festival has become one of Africa’s key film events since launching in 2017. Each year, it brings together films from across the continent and diaspora, highlighting new talent and giving African cinema a platform that feels both local and global.
The 2025 edition showcased over 26 films from more than 15 countries, with a competitive lineup of five standout titles. My Father’s Shadow was among them and ultimately rose to the top for its narrative craft and emotional tone.
Winning NBO’s Grand Jury Prize means the film was judged the festival’s best by an independent panel, strengthening its global reputation just as awards season begins.
Now, with the Gotham nomination, Davies Jr. has moved from one respected platform to another, from Nairobi’s rising film circuit to New York’s established one. It’s the kind of cross-continental momentum that reflects how his work has always moved: rooted in Nigerian experience, but told with the sensitivity and scale that speaks to audiences everywhere.
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How Akinola Davies Jr. is Shifting the Spotlight
Breaking into global film circles has never been straightforward for African filmmakers. But Davies Jr.’s recent run shows what persistence, clarity, and perspective can achieve. His success with My Father’s Shadow shows representation, craft, storytelling, and emotional truth connecting across borders.
There’s also something meaningful in how his work continues to merge visual experimentation with grounded human emotion. That mix has helped Davies Jr. carve out a distinct creative space, one that sits comfortably between the global arthouse scene and contemporary African cinema.
It’s rare for a debut feature to achieve this kind of recognition so early, but My Father’s Shadow seems to be resonating for all the right reasons.
What’s Next
With the Gotham Awards around the corner, all eyes are on Davies Jr. and his team. The nominations for Sope Dirisu have only strengthened interest in the film, placing it firmly in the conversation for future awards.
Whether or not he wins, Davies Jr. has already achieved something; he’s positioned My Father’s Shadow as a defining film of the moment, and as one that speaks to what’s possible when African filmmakers get the room to tell their stories their way.
For a debut, that’s a pretty remarkable start.
