The Intellectual Ignorance of The Chairman of The Nigerian Oscar Selection Committee

The Intellectual Ignorance of The Chairman of The Nigerian Oscar Selection Committee (NOSC)

The selection of Genevieve Nnaji's directorial debut, "Lionheart" as Nigeria's entry for the 2020 Academy Awards has confirmed my dismissal of the so called Nigerian Oscar Selection Committee (NOSC).

Anyone who says Nigeria "couldn't make any submissions in previous years due to unavailability of qualifying films" is intellectually challenged and ignorant of the history of Nigerian films and cinema since 1970 to date; ignorant of the films of Francis Oladele, Adamu Halilu, Dr. Ola Balogun , Tunde Kelani, Newton Aduaka, Biyi Bandele, Izu Ojukwu, Jeta Amata and others who made critically acclaimed films before and after the emergence of the home videos of Nollywood.  

So, no Nigerian filmmaker has made an Oscar worthy film until Genevieve Nnaji made her "Lionheart" in 2018?

Is "Lionheart" really artistically, technically, socioculturally and thematically the best Nigerian film for the highly competitive Academy Award for the Best International Feature Film?

The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (given as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.

Only few members of the NOSC are qualified to judge the best Nigerian films for The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The rest need to go back to film school to study film history and film criticism and African cinema. 


- By EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series
247 Nigeria @247nigeria Twitter 
https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima