…Elesin Oba, Aníkúlápó, King of Thieves battle for votes
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has given the Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) a deadline to submit a Nigerian movie for the International Feature Film (IFF) category for the 2023 Oscars award.
Last month, the chairperson of NOSC for the Academy, Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi, said none of the Nollywood movie entries received by the committee met the eligibility criteria for the IFF category.
“Although the committee received three epic films following its call for submissions in August, it turned out that none of them will advance to the next stage owing to the voting patterns of members,” Anyaene-Abonyi had said.
It was gathered that the committee voted for three films: EbonyLife studios’ historical drama, Elesin Oba: The King’s Horseman; Kunle Afolayan’s epic fantasy film, Aníkúlápó; and Femi Adebayo’s thriller film, King of Thieves.
While eight members voted for ‘nil submission’, five voted for Elesin Oba: The King’s Horseman with Aníkúlápó and King of Thieves splitting the remaining two votes: 1-1.
Following its decision that no Nigerian film will compete in the IFF category at the 2023 Oscar Awards, NOSC has faced an angry backlash from Nigerians for declining all submitted entries.
Intervening in the issue, the Academy gave NOSC till Friday, 21 October to “reconvene and make a final determination regarding a submission to the International Feature Film category for the 95th Academy Awards.”
