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

The Academy Awards, Nollywood and the Submission of Nigeria's Entry for the Best International Feature Film

The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is not responsible for the selections of the members of the Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) for the International Feature Film (IFF) category of the annual Academy Awards (Oscars).

The brouhaha over the lack of honesty and transparency in the rejection of any of the two acclaimed Nigerian films as the country’s official submission for the IFF Award last year caused the resignation of Mildred Okwo and Shaibu Husseini from the selection committee and I don't know if they have returned. But there should be a defined criteria for the membership of the Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) based on international professional achievements and accomplishments in filmmaking and being on the jury of highly rated international film festivals and awards. So, some members of the NOSC are not qualified to be members of the committee. And I mean every word in my statement. 

I was dragged into the mess of the NOSC last year that caused the local and international embarrassment of Nollywood, because after my investigation I discovered that Nigeria should have submitted an entry for the International Feature Film (IFF) category of the last Oscars. But personal antagonisms and not professional criticisms caused the rejection of the two films from which one should have been submitted. 

The two major contenders for the submission as Nigeria's entry were "Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman" , Yoruba-language historical drama film directed by Biyi Bandele based on Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka's "Death and the King's Horseman", a stage play he wrote while in Cambridge and "Aníkúlápó", a Yoruba epic fantasy film by Kunle Afolayan. Both of them were good enough; therefore one of them should have been submitted for the International Feature Film (IFF) category of the annual Academy Awards (Oscars). But the antagonism between those who wanted "Aníkúlápó" and those who wanted "Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman" resulted in the rejection of the films. 

Selfish opportunism has done more harm than good to professionalism in Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

To me, any Nigerian film that fails to be accepted for the Official Selections of any of the following annual international film festivals: Sundance Film Festival; Berlin International Film Festival: Cannes Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) should not be in the consideration for the submission by the NOSC.

 - Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
The Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
Nigeria Daily
Nigerians Report Online on Blogger and Facebook
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#Oscars
#Academyawards
#BestInternationalFeatureFilm
#OfficialSelections
#nominations
#nominees
#films
#committee
#Nollywood

Global Top 10 on Netflix Begins on Netflix and Ends on Netflix

Global Top 10 on Netflix Begins on Netflix and Ends on Netflix

FEATURE FILM & TV
THE GLAMOUR GIRLS REMAKE IS A FLAT TAKE ON A NOLLYWOOD CLASSIC
POSTED ONJUNE 30, 2022 BY THELMA IDEOZU
https://culturecustodian.com/the-glamour-girls-remake-is-a-flat-take-on-a-nollywood-classic/

Global Top 10 on Netflix begins on Netflix and ends on Netflix.

The popularity of a movie from the street to the internet is more about  publicity than quality.
Yes, it is a basis for bragging rights, but if your movie makes the Global Top 10 of Netflix, but fails to qualify for the Official Selections of the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Berlinale, Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and fails to qualify for the nominations for the Academy Awards, you are still lagging behind the filmmakers who belong to that Ivy league of the best filmmakers in the world.
Moreover, Nollywood movies making the Global Top 10 have not stopped Netflix from losing hundreds of thousands of subscribers and not even up to 50, 000 of the millions of the followers and fans of the stars on  Instagram have subscribed to Netflix to watch their movies, except clicks of Likes and Thumbs Up for movies they have only seen the trailers. Because if all of them subscribed, Netflix will be celebrating gaining millions of new subscribers in Nigeria and not lamenting over loss of millions of subscribers worldwide.

I rate and regard the outstanding filmmakers who have made official selections and nominations and won awards at major international film festivals above those who.have not done so, but competing for bragging rights, Likes and Views on Instagram.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Founder/Producer,
Screen Naija YouTube Channel,
Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
the first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry,
247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter
https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria
https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima
https://shadowandact.com/author/MichaelChima

#film #filmmakers #Netflix #filmmakers #filmmaking #Cannes #Toronto #Berlin #Sundance #Venice #Venice #Instagram #Likes #Views #braggingrights #subscribers #movies #Nigeria #instagram #quality #globaltop10 #awards #officialselection #nominations

Nollywood Still Missing at the Cannes Film Festival

Nollywood Still Missing at the Cannes Film Festival

30 years since the production of the blockbuster home video, "Living in Bondage" in 1992 and 20 years after the New York Times coined the word #Nollywood in 2002 for the phenomenal guerilla film industry in Nigeria with over 2000 movies produced annually and rated as the second largest film industry in the world after the #Bollywood of India and ahead of #Hollywood of America, no Nollywood movie has ever been chosen for the Official Selections of the Cannes Film Festival when filmmakers from other African countries have competed with the best for the highly coveted Palme d'Or and have won it a couple of times.

Morocco, Senegal, Ghana and Mali are among the countries with films in the Official Selection of the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival beginning on Tuesday, 17 May and ending on Saturday, 28 May. 

https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/infos-communiques/communique/articles/the-films-of-the-official-selection-2022.

While, the ambitious filmmakers in the world are going to be in competition for the highly coveted Palme d'Or, at the Cannes Film Festival in France, Nigerian filmmakers are hyping themselves on Instagram and competing for bragging rights in Nollywood.

Nollywood filmmakers are lagging behind in the biggest competitions in the global film industry. That is why none of them has qualified for the Official Selections of the Cannes Film Festival and nominations for the Academy Awards.

India will be the official ‘Country of Honour’ at the upcoming Marche’s Du Film which will be organized alongside the Cannes Film Festival 2022 in France. And this is the first time that such honour has been bestowed on any country.

Nollywood, where art thou?

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

Netflix is Improving the Quality of Nollywood To World Class Standards

Netflix is Improving the Quality of Nollywood To World Class Standards

#Netflix is actually helping #Nollywood to improve the quality of film and TV productions in the Nigerian film industry.

But MultiChoice is still accepting substandard movies from #Nollywood for the Africa Magic. They come cheap for as low as US$1200 per movie.

The producers say being seen on #DStv is an achievement and Netflix is their ultimate dream. Making it to Netflix is like winning an #Oscar to Nollywood filmmakers.

Netflix should only accept Nollywoood or #Kannywood movies with Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, because it would boost the quality of the sound in the film and TV productions. 

Your sound begins from writing the screenplay: from the first draft and not the copy and paste soundtracks during the post production which is the common practice in Nollywood.

Using Dolby Vision is not rocket science. 

If Nollywood wants to improve on the quality of productions to qualify for the official selections of top international film festivals and nominations for the Academy Awards, Nigerian filmmakers have to use the same benchmarks for international productions as their counterparts and peers in the leading film Industries in the world.

And I am still waiting for the first Nigerian movie with Dolby Vision.

- By Ekeyerengozi MichaeI Chima,

Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series,

@247nigeria Twitter