Once again, Nigerian filmmakers have disappointed Nigeria. From disqualification for failing to meet the eligibility criteria in 2019 to failing to make the short list for the nominations in 2020; Nigerian filmmakers continue lagging behind other African countries in competition for the most coveted awards for the best films in the world with Somalia and six other African countries on the final list of the official submissions for the Best International Feature Film of the 94th annual Academy Awards.
The following is the official final list.
ALBANIA – Two Lions Heading to Venice / Dy Luanë drejt Venecias (Jonid Jorgji)
ALGERIA – Héliopolis / (هليوبوليس) / (Haliyūbūlīs) (Djafar Gacem)
ARGENTINA – The Intruder / El Prófugo (Natalia Meta)
ARMENIA – Should the Wind Drop / Երբ որ քամին հանդարտվի / Si le vent tombe (Nora Martirosyan)
AUSTRALIA – When Pomegranates Howl (Granaz Moussavi)
AUSTRIA – Great Freedom / Große Freiheit (Sebastian Meise)
BANGLADESH – Rehana / রেহানা মরিয়ম নূর / Rehana Maryam Noor (Abdullah Mohammad Saad)
BELGIUM – Playground / Un monde (Laura Wandel)
BOLIVIA – The Great Movement / El Gran Movimiento (Kiro Russo)
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA – The White Fortress / Tabija (Igor Drljaca)
BRAZIL – Private Desert / Deserto Particular (Aly Muritiba)
BULGARIA – Fear / Страх (Milko Lazarov)
CAMBODIA – White Building / ប៊ូឌីញ ស (Ivaylo Hristov)
CANADA – Drunken Birds / Les oiseaux ivres (Ivan Grbovic)
CHILE – White on White / Blanco en blanco (Theo Court)
COLOMBIA – Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
COSTA RICA – Clara Sola (Nathalie Álvarez Mesén)
CROATIA – Tereza37 (Danilo Šerbedžija)
CZECH REPUBLIC – Zátopek (David Ondříček)
DENMARK – Flee / Flugt (Jonas Poher Rasmussen)
ECUADOR – Sumergible (Alfredo León León)
EGYPT – Souad / سعاد (Ayten Amin)
ESTONIA – On the Water / Vee peal (Peeter Simm)
FINLAND – Compartment No. 6 / Hytti nro 6 (Juho Kuosmanen)
FRANCE – Titane (Julia Ducournau)
GEORGIA – Brighton 4th / მეოთხე ბრაიტონი (Levan Koguashvili)
GERMANY – I’m Your Man / Ich bin dein Mensch (Maria Schrader)
GREECE – Digger (Georgis Grigorakis)
HONG KONG – Zero to Hero / 媽媽的神奇小子 (Jimmy Wan)
HUNGARY – Post Mortem (Péter Bergendy)
ICELAND – Lamb / Dýrið (Valdimar Jóhannsson)
INDIA – Pebbles / கூழாங்கல் / Koozhangal (P.S. Vinothraj)
INDONESIA – Yuni (Kamila Andini)
IRAN – A Hero / قهرمان (Asghar Farhadi)
IRELAND – Foscadh (Seán Breathnach)
ISRAEL – Let It Be Morning / ויהי בוקר, ليكن صباحا (Eran Kolirin)
ITALY – The Hand of God / È stata la mano di Dio (Paolo Sorrentino)
JAPAN – Drive My Car /ドライブ・マイ・カー / Doraibu mai kā (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
KENYA – Mission to Rescue (Gilbert Lukalia)
KOSOVO – Hive / Zgjoi (Blerta Basholli)
KYRGYZSTAN – Shambala / Шамбала (Artykpai Suyundukov)
LATVIA – The Pit / Bedre (Dace Pūce)
LEBANON – Costa Brava, Lebanon / كوستابرافا (Mounia Akl)
LITHUANIA – The Jump / Šuolis (Giedrė Žickytė)
LUXEMBOURG – Io sto bene (Donato Rotunno)
MALAWI – Fatsani: A Tale of Survival (Gift Sukez Sukali)
MALAYSIA – Hail, Driver! / Prebet Sapu (Muzzamer Rahman)
MALTA – Luzzu (Alex Camilleri)
MEXICO – Prayers for the Stolen / Noche de fuego (Tatiana Huezo)
MONTENEGRO – After the Winter / Poslije zime (Ivan Bakrač)
MOROCCO – Casablanca Beats / علّي صوتك (Nabil Ayouch)
NETHERLANDS – Do Not Hesitate (Shariff Korver)
NORTH MACEDONIA – Sisterhood / Сестри (Sestri) (Dina Duma)
NORWAY – The Worst Person in the World / Verdens verste menneske (Joachim Trier)
PALESTINE – The Stranger / الغريب / Al Garib (Ameer Fakher Eldin)
PANAMA – Plaza Catedral (Abner Benaim)
PERU – Powerful Chief / Manco Cápac (Henry Vallejo)
POLAND – Leave No Traces / Żeby nie było śladów (Jan P. Matuszyński)
PORTUGAL – The Metamorphisis of Birds / A Metamorfose dos Pássaros (Catarina Vasconcelos)
ROMANIA – Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn / Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc (Radu Jude)
RUSSIA – Unclenching the Fists / Разжимая кулаки / Razzhimaya kulaki (Kira Kovalenko)
SERBIA – Oasis / Оаза (Ivan Ikić)
SINGAPORE – Precious Is The Night / 今宵多珍重 (Wayne Peng)
SLOVAKIA – 107 Mothers / Cenzorka (Péter Kerekes)
SLOVENIA – Sanremo (Miroslav Mandić)
SOMALIA – The Gravedigger’s Wife (Khadar Ayderus Ahmed)
SOUTH KOREA – Escape from Mogadishu / 모가디슈 / Mogadisyu (Ryoo Seung-wan)
SPAIN – The Good Boss / El buen patrón (Fernando León de Aranoa)
SWEDEN – Tigers / Tigrar (Ronnie Sandahl)
SWITZERLAND – Olga (Elie Grappe)
TAIWAN – The Falls / 瀑布 (Chung Mong-hong)
THAILAND – The Medium / ร่างทรง / Rang Song (Banjong Pisanthanakun)
TUNISIA – Golden Butterfly / فرططو الذهب / Papillon d’Or (Abdelhamid Bouchnak)
TURKEY – Commitment Hasan / Bağlılık Hasan (Semih Kaplanoğlu)
UKRAINE – Bad Roads / Погані дороги / Plokhiye dorogi (Nataliia Vorozhbyt)
URUGUAY – The Broken Glass Theory / La teoría de los vidrios rotos (Diego Fernández)
VENEZUELA – The Inner Glow / Un destello interior (Andrés Eduardo Rodríguez, Luis Alejandro Rodríguez)
The most likely Nigerian film that would have been eligible is the historical epic, "Amina" by Izu Ojukwu, but it is in English and not in the Hausa language of the original story.
The fact that the great opportunity to produce "Queen Amina" in the Hausa language was missed by the producers is a big disappointment, because the film directed by Izu Ojukwu would have fulfilled the criteria for the eligibility and most likely make the short list of the nominations for the Best International Feature Film category. But the producers were more interested in fulfilling the eligibility for Netflix than the eligibility for the Academy Awards.
Having a movie on Netflix is now the most coveted thing for majority of Nigerian filmmakers and not the qualifications for the Academy Awards, Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and Berlin Film Festival.
They celebrate making it to Netflix like winning a million dollar lottery.
But Netflix pays more for the movies of South African, American, European, Asian and Arabian filmmakers than Nigerian filmmakers, because they know that there is a surplus of Nigerian movies selling cheap with their lower budgets and lower standards of filmmaking.
The producers of "Amina" were grinning excitedly like children who have been given Christmas presents in November before the Christmas day comes up in December while their fellow African filmmakers were competing and winning highly esteemed awards at the 27th biennial FESPACO in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and fulfilling the eligibility criteria for the Best International Feature Film category of the 94th annual Academy Awards.
I congratulated the producers of "Amina", to commend their efforts, but majority of the critics said the film on the legendary Warrior, Queen Amina of Zazzau in northern Nigeria should have been in Hausa language and subtitled in English. Yes. And that means the real historical film on Queen Amina has not been done.
I prefer that the film should feature the best actors in Kannywood, the Hausa language sector of the Nigerian film industry. And it should be a national film project of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) which is part of the statutory functions and should be in the priorities of the Steering Committee for the Reform and Commercialisation of the Corporation.
The 94th annual Academy Awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), will honor the best films released since March 1, 2021, and is scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on March 27, 2022.
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