Pidgin English approved as non-English recording dialogue for OSCARS submission

The Nigeria Official Selection Committee for the Academy Awards Submissions previously known as the Nigeria Oscars Selection Committee has announced the approval of Pidgin English as a non-English recording dialogue in films.

The announcement was made on Saturday, October 17, 2020 by a filmmaker, who is the chairperson of the Committee, Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi.

She explained that, as with every submission in the International Feature Category this year, the minutes and percentage of all individual languages in the country-selected film will be required by the Academy.

This according to her is in line with the Academy’s rule and definition of an international film as ‘a feature film with more than 50 percent non-English dialogue track.

According to Anyaene, the request for approval started in December 2019, after which she visited the Academy’s office in Los Angeles in February 2020 following a meeting scheduled between herself and representatives of the International Feature Film (IFF) Executives.

She added that the outcome of that meeting was wider consultation with the IFF executives; ensuring approval is benchmarked and consistent with their screening matrix.

She described the approval as a new feat for the industry, noting that with it, the NOSC might consider re-opening the portal for submission, which was closed at 11:59pm on October 2, 2020 to allow over five other filmmakers with Pidgin English films to submit their films.

“This would only be a one-time opportunity as individual countries have their respective deadlines, which is always earlier to accommodate other processes so as not to miss the Academy’s deadline stated December 1, 2020.”