The Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) for the Academy Awards has announced the cancellation of its plan towards the country’s participation in the 2022 Oscars saying that no submitted film was eligible.
The committee had in September called on Nigerian filmmakers to submit their films for the next edition of the awards.
However, in a statement sent to Qed.ng on Friday, the chairperson of NOSC Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi wrote to the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) expressing regret that the committee could not continue the selection process for this 94th edition as none of the submitted films were eligible.
Part of the statement read: “After a series of deliberations by the Committee members, we regret to announce that there won’t be submission of film to represent the country for the 94th Academy Awards. This is due to the fact that the films received so far for screening failed the eligibility rule test set by the Academy.
“The Committee is committed to ensuring that the film which would eventually represent the country at the 94th Academy Awards in the International Feature Film (IFF) category meets all eligibility rules and technical requirements for the competition.”
Ayaene-Abonyi also expressed optimism that Nollywood will be better prepared for the subsequent editions of the Oscars. She also stated that filmmakers need to familiarise themselves with the Academy rules, hence the NOSC will be engaging them in a series of training.
Nigeria attained a first-time feat at the Oscars in 2020 with the film The Milkmaid which passed the eligibility test before dropping at the first shortlist category.
It would be recalled that Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart was first submitted for Oscar consideration by the committee in 2019 but was disqualified by the Academy as it did not meet the language requirement.
