00:00You never really set out to be the first in anything and we certainly weren't aware that
00:20it would be the first Nigerian film in selection. I think there's been Nigerian film to Cannes
00:24before but obviously not in selection so the experience was pretty overwhelming but like in
00:32the best way I think it's incredible to show work in a place that's full of cinephiles people who sort
00:41of love the craft and a place that has like such massive prestige. It being the first Nigerian film
00:47being in Cannes, Nigerians have really sort of like caught on to that and representing Nigeria to me is
00:54like a real badge of honor. I'm extremely proud to be Nigerian, proud to be African in general
01:01and I think that our stories are incredibly universal but I think there's probably become
01:08an increasing market for us for nuanced versions of our stories to travel across the world basically.
01:13You know what? Go and wear your clothes. You are following me to Lagos today.
01:22But mommy said you shouldn't leave the house. Then we should wait for her.
01:27And why don't you stay and wait for her? You can tell her I went with daddy to Lagos but she put you in charge.
01:34Hopefully your mommy comes back before we go but otherwise we just have to leave message for her.
01:39Go on now. Sharp, sharp. I don't have time.
01:47My Father's Shadow is a film about fatherhood, it's about nationhood, it's about brotherhood.
01:56These two brothers spending the gift of the day with their father who they don't regularly see.
02:02He takes them around Lagos to see the sort of struggles that he has to go through to provide for his family.
02:11They question his sort of absence and hold into account but on that given day that they're spending together
02:17there is a big election result that gets announced and he has to get them back home.
02:21I was in Nigeria during that period and so was my brother and we evidently knew that something was going on
02:28from the responses of like my mother and uncles and other family.
02:34You know we're probably a bit too young to understand the politics of it at the time
02:37but I think in our research we realised that it was quite a pivotal moment, formative moment in the country's history.
02:44something that maybe hasn't particularly been well documented maybe up until now and also
02:51just like a really important story to sort of tell because Nigeria I think has a big part to play
02:58in the sort of growth and development of Africa in general and even the world in general and I think
03:04you know to a certain extent it hasn't quite fulfilled that potential yet.
03:10it's had you know like shimmering moments of being able to do that but I think in order to really sort of
03:16shift the dial and move things forward we have to be able to tell our own stories
03:23in a way that's nuanced for us as opposed to like an outside perspective.
03:29um so I think I think 1993 holds a lot in terms of Nigerian, contemporary Nigerian history and I think it's important to
03:42know what happened and who was around in that period for sure.
03:46Why are you taking that all our business?
04:01I shoot a lot on film. I love the pace of shooting on film. I love the imperfections of shooting on film.
04:11I think it's a very generous way to work making a film because you get to spend more time with your
04:15cast and crew and you get to rehearse. Two of my three leads had never been in a film before
04:20and I didn't think I didn't want to put them in an environment where we can nitpick their performance.
04:26It was challenging to say the least because there's no labs on the continent so we had to
04:31we had to do like a shuttle of things going back and forth so we wouldn't see the rushes for
04:36almost a week so we couldn't strike sets for a week but thematically we were shooting a period
04:43film so shooting on film really helped but politically I'd probably say I wanted to see
04:49the Lagos I grew up in on the most beautiful medium in my opinion and I don't think I had been exposed to
04:56a lot of that in my youth.
04:58So in as much as possible when I shoot in Nigeria I want to shoot on film because I think Nigeria and
05:03Lagos is incredibly cinematic and it deserves to be on celluloid.
05:08Yes daddy!
05:09Hopefully my father's shadow is like breaking ground for next generation of filmmakers to see that it's
05:18possible to do it you know obviously like I come with a certain level of privilege I was born in the
05:22UK my films financed in the UK predominantly but obviously and co-produced by a Nigerian production
05:31company Nigerian talent Nigerian crew so there's a lot of collaboration in there but obviously you
05:38know I have to also say that it comes with a certain level of privilege you know having Mubi,
05:45Element, Match Factory, Fremantle, BBC, BFI all involved you know that might not be the case for every
05:53filmmaker but I think you know I want to acknowledge that and say that there is a way to sort of get to
06:00this point but obviously it takes a lot of collaboration a lot of forward thinking and a lot of
06:05groundwork I think Nollywood is like incredibly rich it's got a beautiful tapestry in terms of
06:11storytelling in terms of creative in terms of technical prowess crews and actors and it's something
06:19I'm I wear even more as a badge of honour in terms of representing because I think it's also a young
06:26fledgling industry maybe now there's a commercial necessity in Nollywood but hopefully films like
06:32mine start to branch out to create more space for art house sort of narratives more dramas more
06:40nuanced dramas and evidently the audiences are quite interested in that
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