C.J. Obasi’s Mami Wata fails to make Oscars shortlist

Mami Wata, a film directed by C.J. Obasi, did not make the shortlist for the International Feature Film (IFF) category of the 2024 Oscars.

Many were hopeful when the Nigerian Official Section Committee (NOSC) picked the Sundance Festival award-winning film as its contender for the 96th Academy Awards’ International Feature Film (IFF) category.

However, in a statement on Thursday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced the first shortlist of 15 films in the IFF category of next year’s Oscars but Mami Wata did not make the cut.

Films selected for the International Feature Film are Amerikatsi (Armenia), The Monk and the Gun (Bhutan), The Promised Land (Denmark), Fallen Leaves (Finland) The Taste of Things (France) The Teachers’ Lounge (Germany), Godland (Iceland), Io Capitano (Italy), Perfect Days (Japan) Totem (Mexico) The Mother of All Lies (Morocco), Society of the Snow (Spain) Four Daughters (Tunisia), 20 Days in Mariupol (Ukraine), The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom).

The Nigerian Official Section Committee (NOSC) for the IFF had said it selected the Mami Wata film for its “relevant theme – multiple generations of women at the forefront of society’s well-being, its unique approach to a story of pre and post-colonial African societies, as well as its technical and artistic excellence.”

Also written by C.J. Obasi, the film, shot in the Republic of Benin, is an exploration and creative reimagination of the mythology of a titular mermaid-deity of West African folklore, and one which, among other things, celebrates womanhood.