After two consecutive years without a submission, Nigeria is returning to the Academy Awards conversation.
Damilola Orimogunje’s Dear Ajayi has been selected as Nigeria’s official submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards, with the Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC), led by filmmaker Stephanie Okereke, announcing the selection.
The development marks a significant return for Nigeria after the country failed to submit a film for the 98th Academy Awards.
Written and directed by Orimogunje, Dear Ajayi is a Nigeria-Germany co-production set in southwestern Nigeria during the 1990s. The family drama centres on two estranged sisters, Ade and Titi Ajayi, who are forced to live together as they care for their paralysed mother.
The film explores family, strained relationships and the emotional consequences of unresolved conflicts, against the cultural and social backdrop of southwestern Nigeria in the 1990s.
Dear Ajayi features dialogue in Yoruba, English and Igbo, further reflecting the linguistic and cultural diversity of its setting.
The cast includes Bimbo Akintola as Ade, Tosin Adeyemi as Titi and Lanre Hassan as their mother. William Benson, Antar Laniyan, Uzoamaka Power, Michelle Dede and Chioma “Chigul” Omeruah also feature in the film.
Nigeria’s most recent submission before Dear Ajayi was Mai Martaba, a Hausa-language film directed by Amina Abdullahi Sanda. Selected in October 2024 for the 97th Academy Awards, Mai Martaba appeared on the Academy’s official list of eligible International Feature Film submissions but did not advance to the final shortlist.
Nigeria subsequently had no submission for the 98th Academy Awards after the NOSC review committee concluded that none of the films considered met the required level of creative and technical intentionality.
Before Mai Martaba, C.J. Obasi’s Mami Wata represented Nigeria at the 96th Academy Awards, while Desmond Ovbiagele’s The Milkmaid was Nigeria’s submission for the 93rd Academy Awards.
Nigeria made its first submission to the Oscars with Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart for the 92nd Academy Awards. The film was initially selected but was later disqualified after the Academy determined that most of its dialogue was in English, making it ineligible under the category’s rules at the time.
The selection of Dear Ajayi therefore gives Nigerian cinema another opportunity to enter the international awards conversation and potentially secure a place among the films shortlisted for the Academy Award.
For the filmmakers, cast and crew, being chosen to carry Nigeria’s name onto the Oscar stage is already a significant achievement.
Congratulations to the entire team behind Dear Ajayi. 🇳🇬
Nigeria is back in the race.
