'Lizard' wins Grand Jury Prize for short film at Sundance 2021

Nigeria's Sundance 2021 short film submission, 'Lizard' has made history as the first Nigerian production to win a short film Grand Jury Prize.

Directed by Akinola Davies Jr. and shot in Lagos, 'Lizard' follows the story of a 9-year-old girl who gets thrown out of Sunday school for her unusual abilities. The film had its world premiere at the prestigious festival.

'Lizard' director Akinola Davies Jr. [Instagram/@akinoladaviesjr] Pulse Nigeria

Reacting to his movie's Sundance win, Akinola wrote on Instagram: "literally a year to this day we started on a project conceived from a bunch of my childhood memories. Today I’m so grateful to @sundanceorg for awarding LIZARD the the Grand Jury prize for shorts. I’m overwhelmed and as much as I’d love to gloat, filmmaking is really crazy hard. Big love to all those who were part of the shorts program - it’s an honour to be amongst such brilliant films".

The film was Nigeria's only Sundance 2021 submission. Its major success comes two years after Nigerian filmmaker Chinonye Chukwu became the first black woman to win a Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize for her US film 'Clemency'.