The Association of Movie Producers (AMP) has weighed in on the crisis that has engulfed the Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) for the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) after it announced last month that no Nigerian film was eligible for the 2023 Oscars.
NOSC became divided after it announced in September that it would not submit a film for the International Feature Film category for the 95th Academy Awards.
The crisis led to the resignation of three members of the Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi-led committee, with vice chairman Mahmood Ali-Balogun writing a petition to the Oscars.
The Academy intervened via a letter dated October 14, asking the committee to reconvene and make a final determination regarding a submission to the International Feature Film category for the 95th Academy Awards.
However, in another letter dated October 16 addressed to the International Feature Film Executive Committee of the Oscars, Anayene-Abonyi requested clarification on whether it was mandatory that countries must submit a film every year.
She also asked if the request came from Ali-Balogun who she said did not copy the NOSC in all his correspondences with the Academy.
It has now emerged that the AMP tried to intervene in the matter before the Academy granted a one-week extension in its October 14 letter copied to Anyaene-Abonyi and Ali-Balogun.
In an October 9 letter seen by Qed.ng and signed by its president Peace Anyiam Osigwe and national secretary Baba Agba, the association asked the NOSC to reconsider its decision not to submit a Nigerian film for the Oscars.
According to the AMP chiefs, not submitting a film was not good for Nigeria, especially with the quality of works by Nigerian producers and their acceptance by viewers all over the world.
The letter addressed to the committee read: “The Association of Movie Producers (AMP) as the apex association representing film producers in Nigeria writes as regards the above subject matter. Whilst we would have preferred to be communicating with your committee under better circumstances, we have received petitions from our members about what they feel is an unfair and unjust decision as regards this matter of non-submission of a Nigerian film to the Oscars International Film Category. In response to the complaints, we constituted a panel of inquiry to review the eligibility criteria and the National Selection Committee’s process.
“The panel’s findings of what is publicly available is that all three films submitted met the eligibility criteria and as such that there should not have been a non-submission on the basis of non-eligibility. We have also observed that members of your committee have subsequently asked for a revote and some others have also subsequently publicly resigned from the committee stating that the no submission was not reflective of the decision that had been agreed to at the committee. This public dissension has left our members concerned as to the fairness and transparency of the selection process.
“It seems that there are certain issues within the constituted members of your committee that make it difficult to ascertain the real facts. We are aware of the complexity of the Nigerian film space and the issues that have to do with Egos and interpretations of rules. However, it is important that we state in the strongest terms that a non-submission from Nigeria at the 95th OSCARS would be wrongly portraying Nigerian producers as being unqualified to be represented on the biggest global stage, especially at a period of considerable progress in our Industry where producers are making a more concerted effort to produce work that is exhibited on the biggest global platforms both commercially and critically, watched and loved by viewers all over the world.”
“We implore you to reconsider your position by reconstituting your committee and making a Nigerian submission for the 95th OSCARS. As part of the recommendations by our inquiry panel, we were advised to write to the OSCARS seeking an extension for your committee to submit. We did make some inquiries about the possibility and it was affirmative that an extension could be given upon request. We trust that the committee is acting in the best interest of our great nation and film industry and that the issues and suggestions raised and made by us in this letter will be seriously considered by you.
“We look forward to your revert and are committed to working with you to resolve this matter promptly.”
