Oscars 2023: NOSC announces ‘no submission’ as Nigerian films fail eligibility criteria

NOSC, Nigeria’s official selection committee for the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences, has announced the country’s withdrawal from the 2023 Oscars race.

According to Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi, NOSC chairperson, the committee regrets announcing its failure in finding an eligible submission.

In a statement signed by Abonyi, the 15-member committee failed to reach a consensus on three contending titles due to their voting patterns.

“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,” an excerpt of the statement reads per The Punch. The committee delivered a ‘no film eligibility’ verdict on September 3, 2022.

Yearly, the committee presides over Nigerian submissions, deciding the best fit for the year’s international Feature Film category, a category created by the Academy to award films from across the globe.

NOSC’s ‘non-eligibility’ verdict will be the second in a row as the committee last submitted an Oscar contender in 2020 with Desmond Obviagele’s ‘The Milkmaid.’

In October 2021, the committee announced no submission after weeks of deliberations. Prior to NOSC’s announcement, Kunle Afolayan and Mo Abudu had sparked Oscars consideration with the announcement of a brief theatrical opening of their non-English titles ‘Anikulapo’ and ‘Elesin Oba.’