The Academy Awards are considered the most prestigious in the field of entertainment, winning one is the dream of every actor, director, and performer there is. The Academy Awards aka The Oscars is where Hollywood’s brightest stars come to shine at the most watched award ceremony in the world.
This year’s 96th Academy Award was held on 10th March 2024 at a glamorous ceremony in Los Angeles. The Academy Awards have given us many historic and remarkable moments, this year’s was no exception for filmmakers from the African continent who had their works nominated.
An insight into the 3 African movies that were nominated at this year’s Academy Awards:
Bobi Wine: The People’s President
Bobi Wine: The People’s President is a Ugandan documentary directed by Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo. The feature follows the life of Bobi Wine a popular musician turned politician risking it all by becoming a member of the Ugandan parliament before deciding to run for president.
The movie follows Bobi Wine’s quest to take on military dictator Yoweri Museveni and the amount of lives lost in the struggle. The documentary was nominated in the ‘Best Documentary’ category at this year’s Academy Award.
Four Daughters
Four Daughters is a Tunisian documentary directed by Kaouther Ben Hania and tells the story of Olfa, a mother who desperately searches for her two lost daughters, professional actors fill in the void of the two missing daughters to bring the viewers closer to the life stories of Olfa’s struggles.
The film is a mix of documentary and fiction. Four Daughters was also nominated in the best documentary category this year.
Lo Capitaino
Lo Capitaino is a Senegalese movie that tells the adventurous journey from West Africa to Italy of two young boys Seydou and Moussa. It was written and directed by Matteo Garrone.
The movie depicts the gruesome reality of migration and the unwavering determination to survive. Seydou Sarr plays the role of Seydou and Moustapha Fall as Moussa. The movie was nominated in the ‘Best International Feature Film’ category at the Academy Awards.
Although none of these African movies won in their categories at the 96th Academy Awards. Their nominations alone are a significant and humbling milestone for African stories to have made it to the world’s most prestigious awards for movies. This is just a stepping stone for African cinema in the international film scene.
Below are some African Stars and movies previously won at the Academy Awards.
Charlize Thereon a South African won the Best Actress in a Leading Role award for the movie ‘Monster’ at the 2003 Academy Awards she became the first African to win in an acting category.
Lupita Nyongo a Kenyan actress won the Best Actress in a Supporting Role award for her character in the movie ‘12 Years a Slave’ at the 2013 Academy Awards.
Under the Academy Award category for Best Documentary Feature Algerian documentary ‘Searching for Sugar Man’ won in 2012 and the South African documentary ‘My Octopus Teacher’ won in 2020.
Trefor Proud of Zimbabwean origin won the Best Makeup and Hairstyling Award for his work in the movie ‘Topsy Turvy’ at the 1999 Academy Award.
The Ivorian war film ‘Black and White in Colour’ won the Best International Feature Film at the 1976 Academy Awards and the South African film ‘Tsotsi’ won in the same category at the 2005 Academy Awards.
I do not even know how I ended up here but this post was great. Cheers.