‘My Father’s Shadow’ Director Akinola Davies Jr. on His BAFTA Win and ‘Free Palestine’ Moment That Was Cut From Broadcast of Speech: ‘It Was Important for Me to Say That in a Room Full of Artists’

After winning the BAFTA Film Award for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer for “My Father’s Shadow” on Sunday night, Akinola Davies Jr. decided to speak up about Palestine.

The critically acclaimed first feature from the British-Nigerian filmmaker — who sported pins of the Palestine and Democratic Republic of Congo flags to the ceremony — follows two brothers who attend a family reunion in Lagos during the 1993 Nigerian election and witness their father’s daily struggles. Raised between London and Lagos himself, Davies Jr. felt compelled to highlight the importance of immigrant stories in his speech.

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