Oscars New directive may favour ‘Anikulapo’
The Nigerian Oscars committee (NOSC) set a new directive which will most likely favour Kunle Afolayan’s ‘Anikulapo’.
Empire earlier reported that despite the positive reviews Anikulapo has gotten in countries all over the world since its premiere, the Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) for the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) did not find it worthy for 2023 Academy Awards nomination list.
A sad Afolayan tweeted, “I am so pleased and delighted that the whole world has decided to tagged ANIKULAPO film “a masterpiece “ even though the Nigeria Oscar selection committee think it’s not worth submitting for the Oscars . Will keep making doing my own thing”.
During a brief chat with Legit.ng’s Nosa Oke-Hortons, Afolayan explained his side of the issue and what led to the infamous tweet.
He said, “I reached out to them when I wanted to submit Anikulapo and asked them what the parameters used to judge a movie that gets selected for nomination are. They sent it to us and said to read this, and we ensured that we met all the criteria, including putting the movie in the cinemas at least seven days before it is released on Netflix.”
Kunle Afolayan explained that he and his team ensured they met all the criteria given to them, and even Netflix was involved and agreed that the movie could go to the cinemas before it was released on the streaming platform.
“As a matter of fact, Anikulapo is supposed to be just exclusive to Netflix. We were not supposed to do cinema, but because Netflix also would like for us to submit, they gave us a bit of window for us to do the seven days in cinemas. So we met all the criteria”, he said.
Days later, the movie ranked number one globally on Netflix.
Afolayan out of excitement tweeted, “Netflix officially confirmed that Anikulapo is now ranked No 1 globally. In non-English titles. Congratulations to us all and thank you guys for your support of referrals.”
The number one spot made Oscars reconsider an extension to revote and re-present a film to represent Nigeria.
Taking to social media to share the latest news which gives hope that his movie will be considered for an Oscar nomination, the Afolayan tweeted:
“It’s just been confirmed that The academy “OSCARS” has given the Nigerian Oscars selection committee a week extension to revote and re-present a film to represent Nigeria by October 21st latest. God’s hand is in this one I believe! Anikulapo on my mind “
