The Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) for the Best International Feature Film (IFF) category of the Oscars is about to name a new chairman after its founder Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi stepped down from the role.
QEDNG learnt that a meeting is scheduled to hold on Tuesday (today) after which the name of a new chairman will be announced.
New voting members will also be unveiled after the meeting.
Mrs. Anyaene-Abonyi announced her exit as chairman in a statement released on Monday, adding that she was moving on to other opportunities in life.
“Under Chineze’s two-term steadfast leadership, the committee has transformed into a beacon of hope and standard befitting of Nigerian filmmakers aspiring to compete in the IFF category of the Oscars,” the statement said.
Anyaene-Abonyi’s exit was described as the end of an era “characterised by unwavering dedication to standard, professionalism and remarkable legacies.”
The NOSC was rocked by an internal crisis last year following a decision not to submit a film for the Oscars.
Femi Adebayo’s King of Thieves, Biyi Bandele’s Eleshin Oba: The King’s Horseman and Kunle Afolayan’s Anikulapo were shortlisted for selection for the Oscars but the committee did not submit any of them.
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The ensuing crisis led to the resignation of some members of the committee and the leak of a video of one of the committee’s meetings.
Among those who resigned their membership during the crisis were filmmakers Kenneth Gyang, Mildred Okwo, Ego Boyo and journalist Shaibu Husseini.
Mahmood Ali-Balogun who served as vice chairman of the committee told QEDNG in a phone conversation that “I am not part of NOSC anymore.”
Old voting members who may return to the reconstituted NOSC include actresses Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Stephanie Linus, Meg Otanwa and filmmaker John Njamah.
Anyaene-Abonyi constituted the NOSC in 2012 and received approval from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to collect, screen and vote entries that would represent Nigeria in the IFF category.
The NOSC submitted Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart in 2019 but the film was disqualified for not meeting the non-English dialogue criteria.
In 2021, Desmond Ovbiagele’s The Milkmaid became the first Nigerian film to be approved by the Academy to compete in the IFF category at the 93rd Academy Awards but it did not make the final shortlist.
