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As conversations around the AMVCA continue, the repeated Best Director snubs of Kemi Adetiba raise bigger questions about recognition, creative merit and whether award institutions truly celebrate the best filmmakers.
The AMVCA winners have been announced, and while the usual conversations around deserving wins, shocking losses and industry politics continue to circulate, I could not help but notice something I had already started paying closer attention to while compiling this year’s nominees list.
For the 2026 edition of the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, one snub stood out to me almost immediately. Kemi Adetiba was absent from the Best Director category. And frankly, it was difficult not to notice.
When a filmmaker consistently delivers some of Nollywood’s most ambitious and culturally resonant projects, but repeatedly finds herself missing from one of the most important categories, it will naturally raise questions.
While I’m not privy to the academy’s exact selection criteria, I recognise that there are likely technical considerations at play. There are also internal deliberations that the public never gets to see. Still, from the outside looking in, it increasingly feels like the AMVCA, like many award institutions, occasionally develops a blind spot for certain executions of creative excellence. It is undeniable to audiences, obvious to critics, visible in cultural impact, and yet somehow never fully reflected where it should matter most.
Which brings me to the question at the centre of this conversation: Do awards really define the best creatives out there? Because if they do, then Kemi Adetiba’s AMVCA history deserves much closer scrutiny.
Read also: All the winners and most talked-about moments from the 2026 AMVCAs
Kemi Adetiba’s AMVCA history tells an interesting story
If this happened once, it would be easy to dismiss. Twice might pass as a coincidence. When it becomes a pattern across multiple major projects, it becomes worth examining.
2026: “To Kill A Monkey” and the most glaring omission yet
Movie poster for “To Kill A Monkey” via @NgMovies_Reviews on X This year’s omission feels particularly glaring because “To Kill A Monkey” performed strongly across the nominations board. The project earned six nominations, including recognition for cinematography, editing, lead actor and actress, and supporting performances. At the end of the night, Bucci Franklin won the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film. Yet, Adetiba herself was left out of the Best Director category.
That is where the disconnect becomes difficult to ignore. A film cannot be recognised for its performances, technical execution and overall craft while the person steering that vision is excluded from directorial recognition. Direction sits at the centre of every major creative decision, shaping performances, controlling pace, building tension, and ultimately defining the world the audience experiences.
To celebrate nearly every moving part of a project while overlooking the person orchestrating it creates a contradiction that is difficult to reconcile. That is exactly why this year’s omission stands out.
2019: “King of Boys” was recognised, but not fully rewarded
Movie poster for “King of Boys” via @kemiadetiba on Instagram Then there is “King of Boys,” the film that firmly cemented Adetiba’s place as one of Nollywood’s most commanding directors. The project earned eight AMVCA nominations, the second-highest tally that year.
It won the NFVCB Award for Best Nigerian Film. Adesua Etomi won Best Supporting Actress. Sola Sobowale won Best Actress in a Leading Role. Adetiba was nominated for Best Director, but she did not win.
Unlike this year, there was at least an acknowledgement. Still, it felt as though the AMVCA recognised the film’s excellence without fully rewarding the creative vision that made it possible.
“King of Boys” was not only successful. It was disruptive. It raised the bar for political crime drama in Nollywood and demanded a level of scale, precision and narrative control that was impossible to ignore.
2017: “The Wedding Party” was a ball game
Movie Poster for “The Wedding Party” via @kemiadetiba on Instagram Then there is “The Wedding Party.” The film was undeniably a commercial success and shifted conversations around Nollywood’s box office potential.
However, in terms of artistic ambition and directorial sophistication, it does not sit in the same conversation as “King of Boys” or “To Kill A Monkey.” So while its AMVCA trajectory may have disappointed some people, this one is easier to understand.
Commercial success does not always equal artistic superiority, but it does not diminish what the film achieved. It simply means Adetiba’s strongest case for overdue directorial recognition rests with the projects that followed.
Although I will always champion women receiving the recognition they deserve, this is not a gender discourse, neither is it an argument for recognition based on representation. And I do not argue for Kemi Adetiba’s win because Nollywood needs to celebrate more female directors. That would flatten the conversation.
This is solely about talent, command, execution and creative expertise. Kemi Adetiba has long moved beyond symbolic recognition. Her work deserves to be assessed against the strongest filmmakers in the industry — and that’s on period. On that metric, she has more than earned her flowers.
Read also: Women are taking centre stage at AMVCA 2026 — and for all the right reasons
When awards miss the mark
Kemi Adetiba via @kemiadetiba on Instagram This conversation is ultimately much bigger than Kemi Adetiba or even the AMVCAs. Award institutions everywhere have always had blind spots. Sometimes they reward what feels timely rather than what proves to be timeless. Sometimes they lean toward safer, more conventional choices instead of bold, disruptive work. And sometimes, they simply get it wrong.
We have seen this happen across every major creative industry. The Oscars have overlooked films that later became cultural landmarks. The GRAMMYs have repeatedly been criticised for not properly rewarding artists whose influence far outweighs their trophy count. Literature is filled with celebrated writers whose legacies far surpassed the awards they did or did not receive.
That is because awards, for all their prestige, are still products of human judgment, and human judgment will always carry subjectivity. This is why I have never believed awards are the final measure of creative greatness. They can validate exceptional work and amplify deserving voices, but they cannot singularly define excellence.
If they could, public memory would not continue to celebrate overlooked masterpieces. If they could, some of the most influential creatives in history would not have built legacies far larger than their award shelves. And if they could, this conversation about Kemi Adetiba would not keep resurfacing.
Would a Best Director AMVCA win be deserved? Absolutely. Would it affirm what many viewers and critics already recognise? Without question. However, the absence of a trophy does not diminish her contribution to Nollywood.
At some point, consistent excellence stops needing awards to prove itself. The bigger question is whether award institutions are keeping pace with the very excellence they are meant to honour.
Read more: The pressure behind the spotlight — what women in entertainment in Nigeria are really up against
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