Dear Ajayi is Nigeria’s Oscar entry for the 99th Academy Awards

Dear Ajayi, Damilola Orimogunje’s 1990s family drama, has been chosen as Nigeria’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards. Selection is the first step, not a nomination. Here is what the choice means, the dates to watch, and the eligibility question every Nigerian entry has to clear.

By Editorial Team

What we know

• The selection (FACT). The Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) has picked Dear Ajayi as the country’s official entry in the International Feature Film category for the 99th Oscars, according to The Nation, TheCable and QED, all published on 4 October 2026.
• The committee’s statement (FACT). NOSC chairperson Stephanie Linus congratulated the filmmakers and 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.”
• How it was chosen (REPORTED). QED reports that the committee reviewed films submitted during a call for entries that ran from 1 to 31 August 2026.
• The film (REPORTED). Written and directed by Orimogunje, Dear Ajayi is described as a Nigeria–Germany co-production set in south-western Nigeria in the 1990s. Two estranged sisters, Ade and Titi Ajayi, are forced to live together while caring for their paralysed mother.
• Cast (REPORTED). Bimbo Akintola plays Ade, Tosin Adeyemi plays Titi and Lanre Hassan plays their mother. William Benson, Antar Laniyan, Uzoamaka Power, Michelle Dede and Chioma “Chigul” Omeruah also appear.

Why Dear Ajayi still has to clear the language rule

Being chosen by Nigeria does not put Dear Ajayi on the Oscar ballot. The Academy first checks that every submission is eligible. Under its rules, as summarised by QED, an international feature must run longer than 40 minutes, be produced outside the United States and contain more than 50 per cent non-English dialogue, with English subtitles and a qualifying theatrical release.

That language test is the one Nigerian entries have stumbled on before. Nigeria’s first submission, Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart, was disqualified for the 92nd Oscars because most of its dialogue was in English. Dear Ajayi is reported to use Yoruba, English and Igbo dialogue. The published reports do not give a breakdown of how much of each, so whether it passes is a question only the Academy can settle. We are not guessing at the proportion.

For a fuller picture of how the race works after eligibility, including the preliminary round and final vote, see our explainer on how Oscar voting works.

The festival run so far

Dear Ajayi arrives at the Oscar stage with an international profile. It played in competition at the 2026 Giornate degli Autori, the independent Venice Days programme that runs alongside the Venice International Film Festival. Nigerian film newsletter What Kept Me Up reports that it won the Premio Enrico Fulchignoni and the Premio Bisato d’Oro for best cast and performances there (REPORTED; we have not seen the festival’s own announcement).

The same outlet reports further selections at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival and at El Gouna in Egypt, where it is billed as its North African premiere. QED says the film is also due at Film Africa in London on 30 October. At home, What Kept Me Up says FilmOne is the local distributor, with a limited run in September and a wider Nigerian cinema release planned for 13 November (REPORTED).

How Dear Ajayi fits Nigeria’s Oscar history

This is Nigeria’s first Oscar submission since Mai Martaba, Amina Abdullahi Sanda’s Hausa-language epic, which represented the country at the 97th Academy Awards and was listed as eligible but did not make the shortlist. Nigeria had no entry for the 98th Oscars. QED reports that the committee concluded none of the films it considered that year showed the required level of “creative and technical intentionality”.

Earlier entries were C.J. Obasi’s Mami Wata (96th Oscars) and Desmond Ovbiagele’s The Milkmaid (93rd), which TheCable describes as Nigeria’s first film accepted into the category. We track every past pick, and why some years had none, in our guide to Nigeria’s Oscar entries. For the wider record of African film at the big ceremonies, see our timeline of African winners at the Grammys, Oscars, Cannes and Emmys.

The choice also says something about where Nollywood’s prestige work is heading. Recent box-office records have come from big commercial titles (see our list of the highest-grossing Nollywood films), while the Oscar entry is a smaller, festival-led drama in Yoruba and other languages. Both are part of the same industry story told in our history of Nollywood.

What happens next

• The Academy will review submissions for eligibility, then hold preliminary voting to pick a 15-film shortlist. QED reports the shortlists are due on 15 December 2026.
• Nominations are scheduled for 21 January 2027, and the 99th Academy Awards take place on 14 March 2027 in Los Angeles. Our 2027 awards and festival calendar lists the key dates.
• Closer to home, watch for the reported 13 November wider Nigerian release and the 30 October Film Africa screening in London.
• We will report when the Academy publishes its list of eligible international feature submissions.

More Nollywood coverage: Nollywood.

Photo credits: Featured image: Bimbo Akintola. Photo: iOpenEye, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Source.

Sources

• The Nation: NOSC selects Dear Ajayi for best international feature film (4 Oct 2026)
• QED: Dear Ajayi selected as Nigeria’s 2027 Oscars entry (4 Oct 2026)
• TheCable Lifestyle: Nigeria selects Dear Ajayi as 2027 Oscar entry (4 Oct 2026)
• What Kept Me Up: Nollywood Distilled, festival run and release plans (3 Oct 2026)