The Nigeria Official Selection Committee (NOSC) has concluded that no film will be submitted to represent the country in the ‘International Feature Film’ category of the 2026 Academy Awards (Oscars).
The IFF is presented to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US that contains 50 percent or more of non-English dialogue.
The committee, which had called for entries in August and received six submissions, announced its verdict following a September 26th deliberation.
In a statement released on Monday, the NOSC disclosed that a majority of its committee members voted for “no submission,” effectively ending the selection process.
Chairperson Stephanie Linus, who conveyed the committee’s decision to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), acknowledged the significant progress and growing standards in Nigerian cinema.
She, however, stated that the submitted films ultimately lacked the necessary “creative and technical depth” to be competitive on the global stage.
“While Nigerian films have no doubt shown significant improvement and growing awareness of IFF standards, there is still a deficit in creative and technical intentionality that will improve their competitive potential for global awards,” she said.
“This is why the NOSC will be taking more proactive steps to encourage filmmakers to create with the Oscars in mind.”
The decision comes after the epic Hausa film ‘Mai Martaba’ was selected as Nigeria’s entry for the 2025 Oscars. ‘Mami Wata’ was also selected as Nigeria’s IFF contender for the 96th Academy Awards.
The recent decision also marks a recurring challenge for Nigeria at the Oscars, echoing a similar situation from a few years prior.
In 2021, Nigeria made a significant stride when ‘The Milkmaid’ was officially accepted as the country’s submission for the 93rd Oscars, though it was later dropped from the first shortlist.
This progress fuelled hopes that the 94th edition would see Nollywood take another step forward.
However, those hopes were dashed when the NOSC announced it would not be submitting a film for the 2022 (94th Oscars).
The then committee’s chairperson Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi stated that the selection process could not continue, citing eligibility issues as the primary concern and declaring that no eligible Nigerian film had emerged that year.
This pattern of non-submission continued into the following year for the 2023 (95th Oscars). Many within the industry attributed the repeated outcome to the committee’s internal voting framework, which includes a “no film eligible” option that has ultimately decided the final result.
The 98th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to be held on March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
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