Akinola Davies Jr.’s My Father’s Shadow marks a historic moment at the Cannes Film Festival as the first Nigerian film to premiere as part of the official selection. It received a Special Mention for the Caméra d’Or. Set in 1993 Lagos, the film follows two young brothers over the course of a single day as they reunite with their father and navigate the fractures of family and country.
Told through the eyes of a child, the film plays like a poetic scrapbook of memory. It builds a beautifully detailed world, shaped in no small part by the care and specificity of its costume design. BAFTA Award-winning designer PC Williams, whose work spans We Are Lady Parts, Polite Society and The Kitchen, brings a deep intentionality to her practice, grounding every garment in place, memory, and emotion. I spoke to Williams about working in Lagos, collaborating with a tight-knit creative team, and why subtle, character-driven costume design deserves attention.
Cannes Classics: First of all, congratulations on the film. I was so moved by it. Before any dialogue starts, I could already feel myself tearing up. That opening montage hit me hard, like a poem.
PC Williams: I think that’s a testament to Jermaine’s work, our cinematographer. The images he captured didn’t need text, they were so full of emotion. You’re already starting to feel something, already building a story in your head. And when CJ and Yuval’s music kicks in, and you’re on that bus coming into Lagos, it becomes really visceral.
Cannes Classics: There’s a strong emotional arc in the film, and costume is a big part of how that comes across. The blue fabric, the necklace passed down, even the way we first meet the father when he is getting dressed, his shirts, his wardrobe, the missing watch. It all feels so layered, like memories stitched into the story. Can you talk about your approach?
PC Williams: When I first read the script, I was like, okay, this whole story takes place over one day. And that can feel quite limiting as a costume designer, because you’ve got one chance to tell it. So every choice has to be really intentional. For me, it was about breaking the journey down into moments. When we meet the boys at home, and the dad’s getting dressed, it’s this window into what’s coming. Then they get on the bus, and I wanted the outside to come inside. So the green of the trees, the orange of the dirt roads, the dusty yellows. And once we hit Lagos, that all goes out the window. Lagos is sensory overload, and I wanted the costumes to reflect that.
Cannes Classics: What was it like shooting in Lagos, and how did the city shape or challenge your process?
PC Williams: It was quite difficult to make, if I’m honest. Lagos is a difficult space to navigate because there’s so much happening all the time. You’re trying to curate imagery but still hold onto the authenticity of the space. And when you’re used to working a certain way, coming from the UK system, you realise you have to adapt everything to suit the reality of working there.
That was the biggest challenge for me: adapting how I work to match the understanding and practices of the team I was working with. But the creative talent in Nigeria is incredible. The artisans, the craftsmanship, it’s second to none. It was really an exchange of knowledge. And coming out of it with something that people connect to, that’s where the affirmation comes from.
Cannes Classics: You can really feel that care, even in the background characters. It doesn’t feel like people just showed up wearing whatever. Was it all designed?
PC Williams: Ninety percent of what you see on screen, outside of the leads, was made by my workroom. And that’s not people just turning up dressed how they dress, we designed it all. We thought about the colours we wanted to use, the silhouettes, the references. We looked at what was actually being worn in Lagos in the early ‘90s.
Because the whole of West Africa has long been a dumping ground for secondhand clothes from the West. That means you see all these late ‘80s silhouettes, things that might feel out of time, but that’s what people were actually wearing. So I didn’t want people to think, “Oh, that’s just what Lagos looks like now.” No, that was what Lagos looked like then. And I wanted it to feel real, but designed, authentic, but intentional.
Cannes Classics: And then you get to the scene at the end, and the costumes are so powerful.
PC Williams: That moment was really important to me. In Yoruba culture, when there are events, weddings, funerals, birthdays, people go out and get the same fabric, and everyone makes their own garments out of it. I wanted to show that. The adirẹ cloth, the designs, the beads, the hats, it was all very specific.
I didn’t want any of that to be left behind. I wanted the audience to feel like they had a full, well-rounded experience of what Lagos was, what the time was, and what the culture is. I remember watching it the second time at Cannes and finally seeing how the colour stories came through. I thought, yeah, it worked. It landed.
Cannes Classics: What was it like collaborating with Akinola on a project like this? You’ve worked together for years, right?
PC Williams: Akin’s one of my best friends. Honestly, we’re more like family than friends. Me, Akin, and Wale, (who co-wrote the film), we all go way back. I remember the first time we went to Nigeria together to shoot a music video for Naira Marley’s Issa Goal. We had no money. We were sharing Wale’s bed, while he was on the sofa.
So to go from that to being in competition at Cannes… I mean, it’s surreal. And what I love is that Akin is always about community. It’s never just him. And I think you can feel that in the film. That community effort is on screen.
Cannes Classics: The relationship between costume and production design in the film is so strong. There are moments where the design feels like it’s stepping forward, and other times where it holds back. How did you navigate that balance?
PC Williams: We worked really closely. There was a lot of communication between departments. Like, I’d say to the production designers, “This is what I’m thinking for colour in this space,” and they’d say, “Alright, then we’ll pull back,” or vice versa. It was never a competition. We were all pushing each other to level up, but also trusting each other to lead where needed.
The family home at the beginning of the film for example, it’s so textured and emotional. The production design is doing so much work there. So I knew that costume didn’t need to do more than what it was already doing. If I’d pushed further, it would’ve been too much.
There’s another moment, when the boys are walking through the frame on a motorbike, and someone crosses the screen in red. That was a deliberate choice. The red becomes a push, a beat, something to catch your eye. These kinds of things were talked about. We were really intentional in how costume and production worked together to build the world visually.
Cannes Classics: And then you get to the beach scene. The white garments, the prayer, the boys on the sand, it’s incredibly striking.
PC Williams: That was one of those moments where you let it all breathe. The Celeste family in their whites, Mr. Joseph in his cream traditional wear sitting on the sand, the boys taking their clothes off. It’s about black bodies, emotion, silence. And then that onslaught of colour that comes in, the guys with the machetes, the texture of the ship.
We all knew what we were trying to do in those frames. Jermaine captured it so beautifully, and the way we worked together, me, production design, camera, everyone was tuned in to what the image needed emotionally.
Cannes Classics: Can you tell me a little about your path into costume design? It sounds like you’ve really built your own way through it.
PC Williams: I started out in music styling. I was working with my friend MJ Delaney and she was doing loads of commercials. We did our first feature, Powder Room, when we were like 26. From there, I was mostly in commercials and music videos, but I was missing something. I wanted work that said something.
Then I met Nida Manzoor and did the pilot for We Are Lady Parts. After that, I did The Baby with HBO, and that gave me the space to really play. I’d never assisted anyone, never worked in someone else’s department. I learned the hard way. But I also got to shape how I wanted my teams to work: people first, work second.
I’ve been really lucky to grow with the same collaborators. A lot of the people I started with, I’m still working with. And I think that’s important. Look to your left and right, not always above. Grow with your peers. Build safe spaces where you can make mistakes and learn. That’s how I’ve done it.
Cannes Classics: That’s powerful advice, especially for people just starting out. What would you say to someone who wants to pursue costume design but doesn’t know where to begin?
PC Williams: You don’t have to know everything. You don’t need to be a cinephile. But you do need to love storytelling. That’s the key. You need to be curious about people and about the world.
And come into the space with humility. Be open to learning. I think a lot of people come in thinking they have to prove something, like they already know how to do the job. But the second you start believing that, you stop growing. You stop being present.
Also, the costume department is so much more than the designer. There are so many roles: breakdown, textiles, costume props, supervisors. Some people are amazing organisers and belong in the office. Some people want to make things with their hands. Not everyone has to be a designer, and that’s okay. Find your lane. Find the thing that excites you and be brilliant at it, but also make mistakes!
Cannes Classics: And what do you think makes a great costume designer?
PC Williams: Empathy. That’s it. You have to want to understand people, to really look.
My Father’s Shadow premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and is expected to release later this year.