My Father's Shadow

Name: My Father's Shadow
Genre: Drama
Released: February 6, 2026
Duration: 94 min
Rating: 85

2026

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Universal acclaim based on 17 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

MUBI | Release Date: February 6, 2026 | Not Rated

Summary: Two young brothers explore Lagos with their estranged father during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis, witnessing both the city's magnitude and their father's daily struggles as political unrest threatens their journey home.

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 94 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Lindsey Bahr

Feb 10, 2026

My Father’s Shadow is a gem, a deeply felt memory piece and vibrant portrait of Nigeria in 1993. Read full review

Murtada Elfadl

May 24, 2025

As the audience is taken in by this intimate and well-observed drama, the rug gets pulled from beneath them by revealing the violence and strife that was simmering underneath. It’s a trick so devastating that it completely upends the movie, elevating it into a deeply humanist narrative. Read full review

Alissa Wilkinson

Feb 12, 2026

It’s that sharp contrast of beauty with an undercurrent of pain that makes “My Father’s Shadow” so bittersweet, and it’s why it cuts to the quick. Read full review

IndieWire David Ehrlich

May 24, 2025

My Father’s Shadow resolves as a movie less about a father than it is about the absence of one — a vibrant, deeply felt love letter to Lagos, written in blood. Read full review

Empire John Nugent

Feb 9, 2026

A hugely impressive debut. Personal and political, this is a tender and spellbinding depiction of family in fraught times. Read full review

Tara Brady

Feb 4, 2026

My Father’s Shadow, which was coproduced by Element Pictures, is not a conventional political drama. Instead it quietly marries personal and national histories, offering a deceptively sprawling portrait of Lagos, a family and the fragile, frantic ways people try to hold on against tyranny. Read full review

Derek Smith

Feb 7, 2026

Hope and fear are inextricably bound in Akinola Davies Jr.’s semi-autobiographical film. Read full review

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