Two vastly different yet emotionally resonant worlds converged at IFFI today as the teams of \u2018Mother\u2019s Baby\u2019 and \u2018My Father\u2019s Shadow\u2019 engaged in a spirited conversation on craft, memory, and the intimate ways in which cinema reflects lived realities. The session brought together \u2018Mother\u2019s Baby\u2019 cinematographer Robert Oberrainer and production designer Johannes Salat, alongside Akinola Ogunmade Davies, director of \u2018My Father\u2019s Shadow,\u2019 a film making waves globally as the UK\u2019s official Oscar entry and the first Nigerian film to screen at Cannes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Lagos Day That Holds a Lifetime: Akinola\u2019s Intuitive Filmmaking Journey<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Opening the conversation, Akinola traced the origins of \u2018My Father\u2019s Shadow\u2019 to an early short film written by his brother. Set against the backdrop of the 1993 Nigerian elections, the film mirrors their own childhood memories of political tension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Akinola explained that instinct guided much of his creative process. \u201cThe micro story is the father and his boys. The macro story is the election and everything gets blended,\u201d he reflected. The film moves within a single day, a choice Akinola describes as freeing. \u201cIt allowed us to build tension naturally. And with everything happening in one day, we weren\u2019t tied down by continuity. We could focus on emotion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The filmmaker spoke candidly about the emotional and technical hurdles of the shoot, particularly the beach scenes, where 16mm film struggled against heat and sound. A funeral sequence left him emotionally spent: \u201cI stayed in bed for two days and cried,\u201d he admitted, calling such moments \u201ctestimonies of powerful filmmaking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As he spoke, Akinola also offered the audience a textured glimpse into Nigeria itself. He touched upon Nigeria\u2019s political landscape, linguistic diversity, and even the gaps in historical education. English, Creole, and street vernacular find space in his film, and for Akinola, this linguistic fluidity mirrors the social and cultural mix that defines Nigeria. His reflections painted a vivid picture of a country that remains underrepresented in contemporary cinematic history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Unspoken, Unsettling Layers of Motherhood in \u2018Mother\u2019s Baby\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For the team behind \u2018Mother\u2019s Baby,\u2019 the film\u2019s emotional engine was the journey of a woman navigating the disorienting aftermath of childbirth. Cinematographer Robert Oberrainer shared that their foremost intent was to depict \u201cthe real changes a woman undergoes during childbirth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The film follows Julia, a celebrated orchestra conductor whose baby, conceived through an experimental fertility procedure, feels somehow unfamiliar. Robert said their visual approach was designed to allow audiences to \u201cwalk with her,\u201d into an unsettling psychological terrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Production designer Johannes Salat stressed the importance of the story\u2019s theme: \u201cIt\u2019s a subject deeply important for women,\u201d he said, calling the film a universal narrative that could \u201chappen anywhere.\u201d Creating the world of the film was, for him, both challenging and intuitive, and the location they eventually chose \u201cfelt like it belonged to the story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The film\u2019s tension grows quietly: subtle mismatches between how others react to the baby and how the mother does. \u201cThat\u2019s where suspense begins,\u201d Robert noted. He also discussed the film\u2019s open-ended climax, describing it as a puzzle the audience must assemble for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Art of Changing Course: <\/strong>Filmmaking as Reinvention<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Both teams reflected on filmmaking as a constantly evolving process. Robert explained that on \u2018Mother\u2019s Baby,\u2019 shots intended for later in the film sometimes made their way into the beginning. He said that these were the decisions he, as a Cinematographer, initially resisted, until the director reminded him that \u201cemotion comes first, not continuity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Johannes agreed, noting that filmmaking often leads to unexpected destinations: \u201cSometimes you end up in a place better than where you thought you were going.\u201d Akinola echoed the sentiment: \u201cYou make the film three times\u2014while writing, while shooting, and while editing.\u201d Deviations, he said, aren\u2019t detours but discoveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the close of the session, what remained was a lively cross-current of experiences: two films carved from contrasting landscapes, but connected through raw instinct, artistic truth, and a common faith in storytelling\u2019s wild, unpredictable journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PC Link:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/static.pib.gov.in\/WriteReadData\/userfiles\/image\/Picture5QGWA.jpg\")
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