'My Father's Shadow' marks a historic first for Nigeria in Cannes

Akinola Davies Jr. and his brother Wale were both toddlers when their father died. Many years later, they began thinking about an idea for movie: What if they had gotten to spend a day with him?

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In “My Father’s Shadow,” which is playing in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, the Davies brothers pay tribute to the father they hardly knew in a shattering father-son tale and one of the clear standouts of the festival.

The film, which premiered Sunday, was the culmination of more than a decade’s worth of wondering. Wale first sent Akinola a script — the first Wale had written and the first Akinola had read — in 2012.

“With zero context, he sent it to me and I just had this real emotional reaction,” Akinola Davies said in an interview. “I actually cried when I read it because I had never conceived of the idea of spending a day with my father and what we would say to him and what he would be like.”