My Father's Shadow won Best Movie at the 2026 AMVCA. It won at BAFTA first. The industry is still working out what to do with that.

The 12th Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards took place on Saturday night at Eko Hotel in Lagos. The biggest prize went to My Father's Shadow, directed by Akinola Davies Jr. and produced by Funmbi Ogunbanwo and Rachel Dargavel. It had already won Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Producer or Director at BAFTA earlier this year and received a Camera d'Or Special Mention at Cannes.

Linda Ejiofor made history. She won both Best Lead Actress for The Serpent's Gift and Best Supporting Actress for The Herd. First actress to win both categories in the same year at the AMVCA. Uzor Arukwe won Best Lead Actor for Colours of Fire. Sola Sobowale and Kanayo O. Kanayo received the Industry Merit Award.

Gingerrr entered the night with nine nominations and left without a win.

My Father's Shadow is a British-Nigerian story made outside the Lagos-Abuja production circuit. Its wins at BAFTA and now AMVCA are the story. The industry has spent years debating what counts as Nollywood and who gets to compete for its biggest prizes. A film that travelled through Cannes and London before arriving in Lagos just answered part of that question.