Mati Diop's "Dahomey" Shortlisted for Two Academy Awards

Multiple award winning Senegalese  filmmaker, Mati Diop has made history by becoming the first filmmaker from Senegal and Africa to have a film shortlisted in two different categories for the highly coveted annual 97th Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars.

Her critically acclaimed documentary film,  "Dahomey" has been shortlisted for both the Documentary Feature Category and Best International Feature Film Category,  making Diop the first African filmmaker to have a film shortlisted for two Oscars.

 "Dahomey" won the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival.

Oscar Shortlist 2025: 

International Feature Film

I'm Still Here, Brazil

Universal Language, Canada

Waves, Czech Republic

The Girl with the Needle, Denmark

Emilia Pérez, France

The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Germany

Touch, Iceland

Kneecap, Ireland

Vermiglio, Italy

Flow, Latvia

Armand, Norway

From Ground Zero, Palestine

Dahomey, Senegal

How to Make Millions before Grandma Dies, Thailand

Santosh, United Kingdom

Documentary Feature Film

The Bibi Files

Black Box Diaries

Dahomey

Daughters

Eno

Frida

Hollywoodgate

No Other Land

Porcelain War

Queendom

The Remarkable life of Ibelin

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

Sugarcane

Union

Will & Harper

The Road Map for the Nominations for the Annual Academy Awards for Nigerian Filmmakers

The Road Map for the Nominations for the Annual Academy Awards for Nigerian Filmmakers

There is a Road Map for the Nominations for the annual Academy Awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and the route is common knowledge to those who truly know the criteria for filmmaking of international standards in the quality of the content and context of filmmaking and the benchmarks of the most coveted international awards and prizes for filmmaking.

Making the nominations for the almighty Oscars from the long list to the short list is beyond the mere selections of the official entries for different countries in the competition for the Best International Feature Film Category of the Academy Awards which is the most competitive, because of the challenges of competing with the best filmmakers from other countries you may not know their works.

In my own opinion, any film that has not made the Official Selections for the annual Cannes Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival should not be the official selection of Nigeria for the Best International Feature Film Category of the Academy Awards. Because in the history of the Oscars,most of the nominees and winners were in the Official Selections of the most highly esteemed and highest ranking international film festivals as I have listed them above. And only the majority of them that won the Palme d'Or of the Cannes Film Festival, Golden Lion and Silver Lion of the Venice International Film Festival, Audience Award of the Toronto International Film Festival, Golden or Silver Bear of the Berlin International Film Festival and Best Feature Film at the Sundance Film Festival made the nominees and winners of the Oscars. 

Any Nigerian filmmaker who cannot or has not competed for the best international awards in the global film industry should not be considered for the representation of the Official Selection of the entry for the Best International Feature Film Category of the Oscars.

Only the best should represent Nigeria, because only the best is good enough for us.

Nigerian filmmakers have not even won the prizes for the Best Feature Film at the annual Durban International Film Festival of South Africa, the highest ranking international film festival in Africa and only one Nigerian filmmaker, Newton Aduaka has won the Étalon d'or de Yennenga" (Golden Stallion of Yennenga) at the Ouagadougou Panafrican Film and Television Festival (FESPACO) for his critically acclaimed film, "Ezra" in 2007. 

The problem of Nigerian filmmakers is the fact that they don't like being told the truth and when you tell them the truth, they become upset and even stop communicating with you in their unprofessional and unintellectual attitudes. But the fact is majority of them don't even know that filmmaking is not for those who are intellectually challenged, because the Art of Filmmaking is beyond the mere craft of shooting a movie.

Majority of the filmmakers in Nigeria don't know what is Art Direction and many of them have not studied Production Design.

Many of them don't know what is the aspect ratio of a movie for the cinema and most of them don't know what is a shooting ratio.

They don't even know how to use lighting for storytelling; costume for storytelling; the nuances of

characterisation and music for storytelling in filmmaking.

I have advised the film schools in Nigeria to use nominees and winners of the Oscars for case studies in filmmaking to teach their students on how and why the nominees and winners got the nominations and won the Oscars.

The  Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) for the Oscars  should know that to make the nominations for the Oscars is more than the mere selection of the official entry.

Is there a budget for the promotion of the selected film?

Promotion for reviews in the highly esteemed and rated international news media such as the New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood, Indiewire, Screen International, CNN, BBC and Underurrents of the  International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI)

Read How Much Does It Cost To Win An Oscar? - BBC News

Just two of the most high-profile attempts to influence what must be the most select group of voters on the planet, the 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Estimates for the total amount Hollywood spends on Oscar campaigns range from $100m right up to $500m in a single year.23 Feb 2016

https://www.bbc.com › news › ent...

How much does it cost to win an Oscar? - BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35613630

By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

The Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,

The first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

Founder/CEO,

International Digital Post Network Limited,

Screen Outdoor Open Air Cinema (SOOAC),

Affiliate Partner, Cinewav of Singapore

Don't View Nollywood with the Rose-Tinted Glasses of Hollywood

 

Don't View Nollywood with the Rose-Tinted Glasses of Hollywood

I have previewed a new Nigerian drama on the psychological consequences of rape in the life of a teenage girl sexually violated by a Roman Catholic priest at a convent in south- eastern Nigeria.
If you replace the leading roles with the famous Hollywood icons, Nicole Kidman and John Travolta and have the location in America, the crime thriller will be nominated in the next Oscars for Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress in a leading role, because of the accomplishments of the cast and crew in the production of the movie. But many Nigerian and other African movies have been viewed with the rose-tinted glasses of the American film industry, popularly called, Hollywood and in most cases, viewed by White Americans who did not understand the nuances of the peculiarities of Black Africans in dialogues and mannerisms.

Are there racial biases in international film acquisition and distribution with the superiority complex of white curators who esteem white filmmakers highly in comparison to black African filmmakers without comprehensive analysis of the content and context of subject and without the broad-minded considerations for diversity and inclusion in the existential dramas of life on earth?
"Our films are good enough for you, but your movies are not good enough for us. "
Is Hollywood the global standard for the best storytelling on motion picture?
The Economist published a selection called, "The Best Films So Far in 2024" without any consideration for the best movies so far in Bollywood and Nollywood on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Showmax and other streaming platforms, cable TV networks and cinemas.

I have seen many crappy Hollywood movies repeatedly shown on M-NET Movies Channels without any consideration for the viewers who paid for the subscriptions.

Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have paid over 200 percent more for the acquisitions of American and Korean films than what they paid for African films.
Showmax of the MultiChoice Group pays more for South African productions than Nigerian productions.
Are these differences in the valuations based on the quality of the movies or racial bias against black African filmmakers by Western standards? But the French are an exception to the stereotypical views of Africa by Hollywood, because the French have a better understanding of African Cinema than Hollywood and the British which can be seen in their broad-minded Official Selections of the annual Cannes Film Festival where several African filmmakers have won coveted awards, including the most coveted, the Palme d'Or.

Can a white curator of films understand the interpretations of the soundtracks of the Talking Drum in different scenarios of the scenes in the Yoruba political drama of "Saworoide", produced and directed by Tunde Kelani in 1999? 

Can the curator understand the soundtracks of the great Ikoro drum of Igbo people in a film adaptation of Chinua Achebe's all time classic novel, "Things Fall Apart"?

What of the different lighting techniques in Nollywood and Hollywood?

Do you know that the sunlight is brighter in Africa than in America?

The sunlight is the same everywhere on earth?

The colour of the moonlight is more romantic on Bonny Island in the Niger Delta than on Long Island in southeastern New York State.

There are different hues and shades of the colours of the rainbow and the narratives of the movies should be viewed in the different perspectives of the origins of the filmmakers to see the big picture of the different stories of life on motion picture.

"The Black Book", the 2023 Nigerian crime thriller of Editi Effiong, starring Richard Mofe-Damijo, Sam Dede, Shaffy Bello, Femi Branch, Alex Usifo, Ade Laoye and Ireti Doyle, released to Netflix on September 22 was the number one on the global rankings and "Òlòtūré", the 2019 Nigerian crime drama on human trafficking by Kenneth Gyang starring Sharon Ooja, Beverly Osu, Ada Ameh and Blossom Chukwujekwu was on the top rankings in several countries and were better than several American and Korean films in accomplishments in filmmaking, but Netflix paid less for the acquisition.

I have always insisted that a great movie is a great movie no matter the location or race of the filmmaker. The quality of the content should determine the price for the acquisition and not the location or race of the producer.

---- By -By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor,.
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
The first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

Nigerian Filmmakers: Beyond Nollywood, Beyond Netflix

Nigerian Filmmakers: Beyond Nollywood, Beyond Netflix

TV is not Cinema and Cinema is not TV.

- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

Nigerian filmmakers must capture the big picture of the future of Nollywood.

Majority of the filmmakers in Nigeria should know and understand the importance and significance of Art Direction and Production Design in filmmaking. 

Many of them don't even know the definition of Art Direction.

There is no filmmaking without Art Direction.

Netflix in Nigeria: It is No Longer Nollywood As Usual

The filmmakers in both Nollywood and Kennywood must now be more adventurous and ambitious in the content and context of filmmaking beyond mere narrative storytelling.

Any dummy can play guitar. 

But any dummy cannot be Carlos Santana or Sir Victor Uwaifo.

Nigerian filmmakers are still using having their movies on Netflix for bragging rights when none of them has made the official selections of the most competitive and prestigious international film festivals in the world after decades of making movies.

We are still waiting for them to be in the official selections for the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival and compete with the best filmmakers in the world and not competing against themselves in Nigeria.

They have been making movies even before C.J Obasi got his GCE and he has gone ahead of them to win coveted awards at the Sundance Film Festival, FESPACO and other esteemed international film festivals where they have failed to make the official selections or failed to win any prize.

The future of Nollywood is bigger than Netflix.

Beauty is more than having a pretty face.

99.99 percent of the biracial actresses in Nollywood can't act.

Three of them are annoyingly amateurish.

They have been featured in movies just for having a pretty face by intellectually challenged filmmakers in Nollywood who think having white looking Bimbos in their movies will attract more viewers and moviegoers.

Having a pretty face and being photogenic can attract filmmakers, but acting begins with learning how to act and not pretending to act when you don't know how to act.

We are two years to the epoch of 100 years of filmmaking in Nigeria. But I doubt if the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy had a clue until I have mentioned it.

How much have we achieved in a century of Nigerian Cinema?

What are milestones in the history of filmmaking in Nigeria since the production of the first feature film, "Palaver" in 1926 by the Academy Award winning English filmmaker, Geoffrey Barkas?

The making of "Palaver" was published in the second edition of the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series in 2014.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

The Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,

The first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

The Cinematographer

In the beginning The Cinematographer came to us in the cloak of black and white and we gazed spellbound in awe of the cinematic universe.

The Cinematographer 

- by  Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, an NFT art to be up for exhibition and auction on Opensea and Artprice before Christmas.

This is the final part of The Cinematographer in total abstract of the same image.

The Cinematographer is going to attract many bidders when it is up for exhibition and auction. Because, it really an awesome of genius. A unique masterpiece of artwork in celebration of the cinematographer that has never been done before in such magnificence in the history of Fine Arts and NFTs. 

Please, if you have seen a better artwork celebrating the cinematographer before this one, let me know.

To me, it is priceless like my "Signature of God" on. the Algorand blockchain.

This is a special artwork in honour of cinematographers in film and TV productions. 

They are the painters on whose painters on whose palette the art of storytelling in motion picture is made. 

You cannot capture any image in motion picture without a cinematographer. 

Imagine a painting without colours.

Imagine a cart moving without a donkey or horse.

Imagine car without an engine.

Imagine a life without a soul.

Then imagine a film or TV production without the  cinematographer.

There is no creation without the creator. 

The Cinematographer is the painter of the painting on the canvas.

A director without a cinematographer is like driver driving a car without engine.

- By EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima.

© All rights reserved. No copying, duplication and reproduction of any part of this content in any format of media without the authorization and permission of Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima and International Digital Post Network Limited.

#cinematographer

#cinematography

#cinema

#motionpicture

#director

#filmmaking

#filmmakers

#filmproduction

#tv

#art

#nft

#auction

#exhibition

#celebration

#masterpiece

#artwork

#artform

#finearts

#history

#bidders

#genius

#painting

#canvas

#pallete

#car

#engine

#donkey

#horse

#creation

#imagination

#opensea

#artprice

#algorand

All That Glitters is Not Gold in Nollywood

All is Not Well in Nollywood.and the Nigerian Film Industry.

All that glitters is not gold. 

Majority of the producers. directors, actors. actresses and other practitioners in the Nigerian film industry are facing critical economic challenges ignored by the Nigerian government.

An official of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) invited me for a meeting on how to get distribution for thousands of new movies, because only about 100 -200 get acquired by the MultiChoice Group, Startimes, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Showmax. The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) stations and local private TV stations don't have enough budgets to acquire the movies and series. The are grossly underfunded. 

The loads of local content without acquisition and distribution are either on YouTube or put aside in drawers. The producers are heart broken and depressed, because their investments have failed to produce the returns on investment and have left them bankrupt.

The cinemas are having challenges due to high costs of recurrent expenditure in Nigeria.

If, you are in doubt, you must be from another planet. 

We have humanitarian emergencies in Nollywood that most people are not bothered about. 

I have always helped whenever I could in spite of my own critical economic challenges.

I have done my best for the overall benefit of all in Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry and I am still doing my best locally and globally to increase the appreciation, acquisition and distribution of Nigerian movies and series.

Presently, I am targeting new Internatonal markets in the Americas, Asia and Eastern Europe where I have attracted potential partners for acquisition, distribution and co-production.

The federal government and responsible ministries must address these challenges if we want the best for Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

- By EKENYERENGOZI Michael CHIMA,
Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series.
The first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry since 2013.

#nollywood
#economiccrunch
#bankruptcy
#producers
#directors
#filmmakers
#actors
#photographers
#cinematographers
#acquisition
#distribution
#production
#partnerships
#partners
#netflix

#amazon

#showmax

#primevideo

#movies

#series

Memory of October 20, 2020 Has Been Released on Selar

"Memory of October 20, 2020" photo documentary on the aftermath of the tragic EndSARs protests in Lekki on October 20, 2020 in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria is of historical significance showing one of the survivors having sleepless nights of the nightmares. The photo documentary shows the 🌃 nightmares of his trauma.

View on Selar

https://selar.co/016e11

#memoir 

When the So Called Masterclass is not a Masterclass

When the So Called Masterclass is Not a Masterclass

"What makes a work of art a masterpiece is not the craft.
But the Imagination of the artist."
- Ekenyerengozi MichaeI Chima.

Some years ago, I was invited to participate in a Masterclass on  Documentary Filmmaking by the Public Affairs Section of the Consulate of the United States of America in Lagos in the Documentary Showcase Program with American documentary filmmakers. Prominent Nigerian filmmakers in Nollywood were also invited. But the workshop was rushed by the American filmmaker teaching what was nothing new or different, but documentary filmmaking for beginners and what the Nigerian filmmakers already knew. He was teaching us what students in high school were taught in America.

Then the workshop ended abruptly without the completion of the most important sessions.

The American filmmaker started  the presentation of Masterclass  certificates to all the participants. But I refused to accept my own certificate with my name already written on it.

"We never had any masterclass on documentary filmmaking," I said.

The others were compelling me to accept it. I reluctantly collected it. But I dumped it later in the drawer of my desk in the office of Supple Communications Limited.

Finis.

#art

#artist

#masterpice

#craft

#masterclass

#workshop

#filmmaking

#filmmakers

#Nollywood

#America

#Nigeria

#documentary

#documentaryfilm

#showcase

#unitedstates

#consulate

#Lagos

#presentation

#certificate

#office

RECOMMENDED BOOKS BY EKENYERENGOZI MICHAEI CHIMA

Available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other booksellers.

ZENITH 2024 Inaugural International Film Festival

 

ZENITH 2024

Zenith International Film Festival: Coming Soon!

Zenith International Film Festival is an annual independent film festival for the promotion of the best in motion picture, from script to screen; where the most ambitious filmmakers will meet the most ambitious film distributors from all over the world.

Participation is strictly by application and competition is only by official selection. 

Only 20 films will be selected by the international jury.

The inaugural annual Zenith International Film Festival will be launched in Lagos before the end of 2024. 

 We may not be the first and we may not be the biggest, but our mission is to be among the best international film festivals in the world.

More details will be announced later.

#zenith
#filmfestivals
#officialselection
#nominees
#nominations
#awards
#prizes
#filmmaking
#movies
#actors
#nigeria
#filmmakers
#jury
#filmdistribution
#acquisition

#ZENITH2024

Lighting Techniques That Film Schools Cannot Teach

Lighting Techniques That Film Schools Cannot Teach

GET CREATIVE

There’s a certain subset of lighting techniques that film schools can’t teach. Cinematographer Owen McPolin ISC sheds some light on the creative thinking and resulting methods used when illuminating spaces.

Even the highest-end shows will eventually present a camera team with problems which require a solution nobody has ever used before. Owen McPolin ISC has been shooting mainly for television since the late ‘90s, with recent credits including episodes of Penny Dreadful, Ripper Street and Shadow and Bone. He tells us that even the best-prepared production might occasionally provoke desperate measures."

 

Read it on 

https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/supplement_posts/get-creative/

NEW ARTWORKS AND NFTS

See the gallery on 

https://nigeriansreportng.blogspot.com/2023/10/new-original-artworks-and-nfts-for-sale.html

The Most Popular Film Stills From A Nigerian Film and TV Production

The most popular stills in circulation from a Nigerian film or TV  production are from the second phase of the principal photography of my documentary film, "Lagos in Motion" in 2016.

I published the photo book of the stills.currently distributed by Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other booksellers.

View the NFTs exclusively on the Algorand blockchain

https://nftmyimage.com/@nigeriadaily
NFTs last longer than photos, videos and films that are not on the blockchain. 

The NFTs will be in the decentralized InterPlanetary File System.

The pictures show beautiful #Nollywood actress, model and beauty pageant Queen, Celina Ideh and other people in "Lagos in Motion" in the Toyota SUV as I was recording whilst the vehicle was moving us to another location in Lagos, Africa's largest megacity; on the Lekki- Ikoyi Link Bridge, Elegushi Beach, new Tejuosho Market and Onike in Yaba.

Film stills are very important in film studies.

Stills are essentially photographs taken on the set or during the production of a movie. They serve as a visual representation of the film, capturing key moments, characters, and set designs. These images are commonly used for promotional purposes, including posters, press kits, and marketing materials. And they are also used by scholars and students of film studies. 

#filmmaking

#filmproduction

#filmmakers

#filmstill

#screenshot

#documentary

#documentaryfilm

#movies

#series

#filmstudies

#students

#scholars

#Lagos

#Africa

#megacity

#photography

#book

#photobook

#Amazon

- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima.