Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
Nigeria has selected Damilola Orimogunje’s ‘Dear Ajayi’ as its official submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards, the Nigerian Official Selection Committee announced, marking the country’s return to the Oscars race after failing to submit a film for the previous edition. The selection, announced after a month-long call for entries that ran from August 1 to 31, 2026, places the Nigeria-Germany co-production in contention for consideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ahead of the ceremony scheduled for March 14, 2027, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
NOSC Chairperson Stephanie Linus congratulated the filmmakers and expressed the committee’s support as the production enters the next stage of the process. “We congratulate the filmmakers behind ‘Dear Ajayi’ on their selection,” Linus said. “We look forward to presenting the film for the Academy’s consideration and wish the team every success in the next stage of the process.” The committee’s decision followed a rigorous review of eligible entries submitted during the August window, a process that NOSC has described as focused on identifying productions that demonstrate the creative and technical intentionality required for international competition.
‘Dear Ajayi’ is a period drama set in southwestern Nigeria in the 1990s. The film follows two estranged sisters, Ade and Titi Ajayi, whose lives have taken different paths before their strained relationship is tested when their paralysed mother comes to live with them. Ade, a devout Christian and the family’s breadwinner, struggles to understand Titi, an aspiring singer whose independent spirit challenges the expectations placed on her. Their reunion brings old resentments to the surface, compelling both women to confront the grief, family history and conflicting ambitions that drove them apart. The film explores themes of family responsibility, faith, ambition, sacrifice, forgiveness and reconciliation, and it combines Yoruba, English and Igbo dialogue.
Directed, written and produced by Orimogunje, the film features Bimbo Akintola as Ade, Tosin Adeyemi as Titi and Lanre Hassan as their mother, with William Benson, Antar Laniyan, Uzoamaka Power, Michelle Dede and Chioma “Chigul” Omeruah also in the cast. ‘Dear Ajayi’ had its world premiere at the 23rd edition of Giornate degli Autori, an independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, where it featured in the competition section. The Nigerian-German co-production was produced by Nigeria’s 2o9ine Films with Depth and Optics Productions, and Germany’s Mayana Films.
The selection marks Nigeria’s return to the Oscars process after the country failed to submit a film for the 98th Academy Awards. In 2025, the NOSC review committee said none of the entries it considered demonstrated the required level of “creative and technical intentionality,” a decision that prompted the committee to open submissions for the 99th Academy Awards on August 1, giving Nigerian filmmakers, producers and rights holders until August 31 to enter eligible productions through its portal. NOSC has been recognised by the Academy as the body responsible for choosing Nigeria’s official entry in the International Feature Film category since 2019. Each year, a country or region can submit only one film through its Academy-approved selection committee.
The submission does not guarantee an Oscar nomination. The Academy will assess the film’s eligibility alongside submissions from other countries before voting determines the 15-film shortlist and, subsequently, the five nominees. Nigeria has submitted films for Oscar consideration in previous years, but the country has yet to secure a nomination in the Best International Feature Film category. The selection of ‘Dear Ajayi’ therefore represents both an opportunity and a challenge for Nigerian cinema, which has grown in international visibility through the global success of Nollywood and the recognition of Nigerian filmmakers at major festivals, but has yet to translate that momentum into a nomination at the Academy Awards.
The film’s themes and setting place it within a tradition of Nigerian cinema that examines family dynamics, faith and social change through an intimate, character-driven lens. Its period setting in the 1990s offers a window into a formative decade in Nigeria’s post-independence history, and its multilingual dialogue reflects the country’s linguistic and cultural diversity. The film’s selection by NOSC signals the committee’s confidence that ‘Dear Ajayi’ possesses the artistic quality and technical craftsmanship required to compete on the international stage.
The political and cultural context of the selection is significant. Nigeria’s creative economy has become a central pillar of the government’s economic diversification agenda, with the film, music and entertainment industries identified as key drivers of job creation and export earnings. The Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, has consistently emphasised the importance of supporting Nigerian creatives and projecting the country’s cultural influence globally. The selection of ‘Dear Ajayi’ for the Oscars provides an opportunity to showcase Nigerian storytelling to a global audience and to build on the international recognition that Nollywood and Afrobeats have already achieved.
For the filmmakers behind ‘Dear Ajayi’, the selection represents a significant milestone in the film’s journey from its premiere in Venice to the Academy Awards. For NOSC, it is a validation of the committee’s efforts to identify and promote films capable of competing internationally. For Nigerian cinema, it is another step in the long campaign to secure the country’s first Oscar nomination. As Linus put it, the committee looks forward to presenting the film for the Academy’s consideration and wishes the team every success in the next stage of the process. The coming months will determine whether ‘Dear Ajayi’ can progress from Nigeria’s official submission to the Academy’s shortlist and, ultimately, to the final five nominees. For now, Nigeria is back in the Oscars race, and the film that will carry the country’s hopes is a quiet, intimate family drama about two sisters, a paralysed mother and the choices that shaped their lives.
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