Nigeria to Sit Out Oscars 2026 as NOSC Votes “No Submission”

Ikenna ChurchillOctober 1, 20251 Mins read617

Nigeria will not submit a film for the International Feature Film category of the 2026 Oscars, the Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) announced on Monday. At a meeting on 26 September, the committee cast a majority vote for “No Submission” after an open invitation for entry was made in August and six films were received for consideration, NOSC Chairperson Stephanie Linus said.

Despite Nigerian films having improved significantly and raised awareness of IFF norms, there still exists a lack of creative and technical intent that will make them more competitive for international awards, Linus asserted, with dismay that no film was deemed worthy this time. That’s why the NOSC will now be taking more drastic steps to encourage filmmakers to produce with the Oscars in mind.

Nigeria’s brief experience with the Academy’s international film competition has been a mixed bag of landmark successes and heartbreaking failures. “Lionheart,” the country’s first-ever submission in 2019 by Genevieve Nnaji, was disqualified for containing too much English. Desmond Ovbiagele’s “The Milkmaid” was Nigeria’s first film to be officially accepted in 2020, and C.J. Obasi’s “Mami Wata” represented the country in 2023. In 2024, Prince Daniel Aboki’s “Mai Martaba” was submitted for the 97th Academy Awards. None of these entries has yet secured a nomination.

The committee has previously opted not to submit a film in years when it judged that no film met eligibility or competitive standards, for example, after reviewing several Yoruba-language titles in 2022 and determining they were “non-eligible.”

For Nollywood, the NOSC decision rekindles a too-familiar debate about the gap between indigenous success, streaming visibility, and the very creative and technical standards the Academy prizes. The committee suggests that its next step will be to call for intentional Oscar-worthy filmmaking, work that could reimagine production decisions, festival strategy, and the way movie creators balance language, technical ability, and festival appearances.

In the meantime, Nigeria will sit out the 2026 contest, a relief the sector will likely view as both a disappointment and an incentive to rethink its global campaign strategy.

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