Online Reporter
CANNES— The 2025 Cannes Film Festival came to an end with an awards ceremony, where one African project received a special mention but otherwise featuring zero awards for the continent’s filmmakers.
The Camera d’Or, an award specifically for first-time feature filmmakers named My Father’s Shadow, a drama directed by Nigerian-British director Akinola Davies Jnr, the recipient of a special mention.
The actual award went to The President’s Cake, a film from Iraqi filmmaker Hasan Hadi.
The award’s reflected a theme that had persisted throughout the festival.
My Father’s Shadow garnered the most attention of all of the African projects at this year’s event.
While its special mention is itself remarkable, that recognition is a lower rung on the ladder of African Cannes success compared to last year’s Un Certain Regard Best Director award for Zambian-Welsh filmmaker Rungano Nyoni for her film On Becoming A Guinea Fowl.
Both Nyoni’s film and Davies Jnr’s film screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival.
The festival’s big one, the Palme d’Or, went to Jafar Panahi, who has now become the fourth director to win the big prizes at the Big 3 festivals in the world: Cannes, Berlin, and Venice.
The second most prestigious award, the Grand Prix, went to Joachim Trier for the well-reviewed Sentimental Value.
Brazil’s Kleber Mendonca Filho was named Best Director, his lead actor Wanger Moura also named winner of the Best Performance by an Actor award. —Filmefiko.com
