The Murky Waters of Nigerian Oscars Selection Committee

By Vanessa Obioha 

Since the Nigerian Oscars Selection Committee announced that it won’t be submitting a Nigerian film for the 2023 Academy Awards, it has been embroiled in one controversy or the other. These contretemps, however, have exposed the NOSC in a bad light such that its good intentions are no longer deemed worthy. 

The latest debacle is the now-deleted video on YouTube last Saturday where the Chairperson of the committee, Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi was seen in a virtual conference with members of the committee casting votes on whether to uphold the committee’s rules and regulations. It was earlier speculated that the Academy requested the committee to have a re-vote to submit a Nigerian film as the ‘no submission’ stance by the committee was criticized by many.

Anyaene-Abonyi in a statement last week debunked the news, stating that the response it got from the Academy after demanding clarifications for its five-day grace of extension directive was “the Academy is unable to dictate voting procedure or influence any outcome regarding voting. Any decisions regarding re-voting must be decided by the full Nigerian Official Selection Committee based on the Selection Committee’s own internal rules and regulations.” 

Thus, the conference call which reportedly took place on Thursday, October 20, was to carry out the aforementioned.

However, her body language conveyed unprofessionalism and drew the ire of many who saw the video before it was deleted. Not a few opined that the NOSC chairman is on an ego trip and as such cannot be trusted in getting a Nigerian film to the Oscars. 

Since the NOSC got its bearing, it has only successfully submitted one film ‘The Milkmaid’ for the Oscars for the International Feature Film (IFF) category. However, the film only made the longlist. The first shot by the committee was Genevieve Nnaji’s ‘Lionheart’ which was disqualified for not meeting the requirements of the IFF category.

According to the Academy, the IFF is reserved for feature-length films produced outside the United States with a predominantly non-English dialogue track. The language does not have to be necessarily the language of the country. For instance, a Nigerian film with a predominant French dialogue can be eligible. The Academy also requires the films to have been first released in the country submitting them during the eligibility period defined by the rules of the academy and must have been exhibited for at least seven consecutive days in a commercial movie theatre. In addition, a film can be disqualified if its country has exercised insufficient artistic control over it. 

Countries can only submit one film through an organisation, jury or committee made up of film industry practitioners. In some countries like Brazil, submission is done by a body under the Ministry of Culture.

As argued by Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, the founder of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) and president of the Association of Movie Producers (AMP), on ARISE News’ ‘The Morning Show’, the Nigerian Film Corporation and The Ministry of Information and Culture should work with the NOSC to help avoid no eligibility scenario again.

Critics believe that Nigeria has eligible films that can contest at the Oscars next year. They include Kunle Afolayan’s ‘Anikulapo’, Femi Adebayo Salami with ‘King Of Thieves’ and Mo Abudu with ‘Elesin Oba: The King’s Horseman’, which were submitted to the committee.

But on September 3, when the NOSC had its voting, it claimed that eight out of the 15-member committee voted to not have any film submitted, according to the simple majority rule that could be interpreted from the 8-5-1-1 voting patterns recorded.

This decision to many is confusing given that the films submitted met the requirements of the Academy. 

Anyiam-Osigwe noted that having gone through the requirements of the Academy, it was clear that the NOSC’s role was to select a film for submission and not to vote. She however insisted that AMP will not sit idle about the NOSC’s decision.

Although the deadline for submission has passed, Anyiam-Osigwe gave a hint that Wednesday, October 26, will fully determine if all hope is lost.