By Brian Okoth
Five Nigerian movie stars are among the 398 new members of the Oscar Academy, who will vote for nominees and winners in March 2024.
They are veteran actor Richard Mofe-Damijo, movie producers Jadesola Osiberu and Kunle Afolayan, film writer Shola Dada and film director CJ Obasi.
Reacting to her addition to the Oscar Academy board, Dada said on Facebook: “I am super thankful to God for this honour and privilege.”
Should all the five Nigerians accept the membership request, they will join the Oscars board that has 10,817 people. Music superstar Taylor Swift is among the new entrants to the academy.
The new members have been added to replace those who have retired, died or been promoted to the emeritus status.
Distinguished careers
The Oscar Academy said it settled on the new members because they have “distinguished themselves by their contributions to motion pictures.”
“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide,” the Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a joint statement on June 28.
Members who will be eligible to vote in the 96th edition of the Oscars, set to be held on March 10, 2024, are 9,375.
Following the new additions, the 2023 Oscar Academy membership will be made up of 40% women, 34% underrepresented ethnic or racial communities and 51% members drawn from countries outside the United States.
For a film producer, director, screenwriter or actor to get an Oscar nomination, he or she needs to secure votes from members in their specific categories’ voting branch.
The number of votes required will depend on the size of the branch. The largest branches are for the Best Picture and the four acting categories, which require at least 100 votes.
Weighting system
Auditing firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), then uses a complex weighting system to determine the five nominees for each category.
Upon knowing the nominees, all members can vote for the respective winners. Some categories, however, require the members to see all the nominees before casting their vote.
Best Picture is determined by members ranking their choices in order of preference, with PwC tallying the entrants picked as number one by the different members.
If a movie secures more than 50% of the vote, it wins. If it does not, then the film with the lowest score will be eliminated among the nominees. The voting continues until a movie crosses the 50% approval rating.
The incorporation of five Nigerian movie artists in the Oscar Academy board is an indicator of the significant progress the African film industry, especially Nollywood from Nigeria, has made in the international arena.
