October 25, (THEWILL) – While crisis continues to rock the Nigerian Oscar Selection Committee NOSC, ‘The Planters Plantation’, featuring Nollywood’s Nkem Owoh, has been selected as Cameroon’s entry for the 2023 Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences awards, otherwise called The Oscars.
The Nollywood star played a lead role in Planter’s Plantation, Cameroon’s fifth Oscar entry.
Cameroon submitted a film for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film IFF, for the first time in 1980 titled ‘Our Daughter.’
IFF is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains non-English dialogue primarily.
For the second year in a row, earlier this month, the Nigerian Oscar Selection Committee, NOSC, announced that no Nigerian film is eligible for the International Feature Film category of the 2023 Oscars.
Nigeria’s last Oscar submission was “The Milkmaid” in 2020.
This decision generated furore as the Committee received and deliberated over three prominent films, Kunle Afolayan’s ‘Aníkúlápó’, Mo Abudu’s ‘Elesin Oba: The King’s Horseman’ and Femi Adebayo’s ‘King of Thieves.’
While the controversy rages, the Board of the Cameroon Film Industry has submitted ‘The Planter’s Plantation’, directed by Eystein Young.
Shot in Cameroon, ‘The Planters Plantation’ is set in 1960s West Africa. At independence, James Whitaker (Alexander David Silverstone Powers), bequeaths his plantation to Mr Planter (Nkem Owoh).
The movie, a dramatic musical, is produced by Extrafix Media, BGC Melody Story and Inn Amore Pictures.
Aside from Owoh, ‘The Planters Plantation’ assembles the best of the Cameroonian film industry. Among them are Nimo Loveline as Enanga, Loic Sumfor, Stephanie Tum, and Syriette Che.
Mr Young wrote, directed and co-produced the film, while Don Julio Bats and co-stars Irene Nangi and Quinny Ijang are Executive Producers.
The film recently won three awards at the Ecran Noir Festival, including the Ecran D’or, the first for a Cameroonian Movie in 26years.
It won the ‘Best Cameroon Actress’ and ‘Best Cameroon/Over All Film’ categories.
It has also received international recognition from the prestigious African International Film Festival AFRIFF, Wales’ Film Festival and multiple nominations at the LFC Awards 2022.
Despite news that the Academy has instructed the Nigerian committee to reconvene for a revote, the NOSC insists that there is no submission from the country.
A committee member, Shaibu Husseini, had announced that the Academy granted NOSC, an extension for a final determination by the members.
