By Cyril Ehis
For the second time in four years, no Nigerian film will have a shot at the Academy Awards, coming up in Los Angeles, USA. next year
No thanks to the Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) which in September announced that there would be no Nigerian film submission for the 2026 Oscars.
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The decision affects the International Feature Film (IFF) (formerly Best Film in Foreign Language) category of the 96th Academy Awards.
The curious decision followed a similar controversial position that the committee took in 2022, when it failed to pick any of the top three films vying for selection that year.
Many industry stakeholders had queried the failure to pick either Elesin Oba (The King’s Horseman) by Biyi Bandele or Kunle Afolayan’s Anikulapo.
Or even Femi Adebayo’s Agesinkole in a year that industry watchers thought Nigeria stood a good chance of being shortlisted with any of the films.
The controversial decision led to the exit, in protest, of some of the committee members;
and the eventual departure of Chineze Anyaene, the chairman of the NOSC who was believed to have spearheaded the strange decision not to pick any film for the Academy’s consideration in 2022.
The Committee which had issued a call for entries in August and received six films for consideration has now toed the unpopular line of 2022, even though it has a new chairman in person of Stephanie Okereke-Linus, an actress and film director.
During its September 26th deliberations, a majority vote decided “No Submission,” to end the selection process, according to the official statement from NOSC, a decision which was then confirmed by Okereke-Linus in a formal letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
Although she noted improvements in Nigerian films but highlighted gaps in creative and technical execution.
“Despite growth, Nigerian films still lack the intentionality required to compete at the Oscars,” Linus said.
She added that NOSC would take proactive steps to guide filmmakers towards Oscar-worthy productions.
She urged filmmakers to study previous IFF-nominated works to better understand global standards.
She emphasised that stronger awareness of the category’s expectations would improve Nigeria’s future chances.
The IFF award recognises feature-length films produced outside the United States.
Eligible films must contain at least 50 percent non-English dialogue.
However, industry stakeholders insist that the job of NOSC is not to police submission but to pick the best out of whatever is submitted and leave the Academy to decide the fate of the entry.
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Many also wondered why My Father’s Shadow, which was Nigeria’s first official film in selection at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival was not encouraged to be submitted given its award at the Cannes Film Festival in May as well as its growing global popularity.
