Entertainment
Full List: Tems Nominated For 2023 Oscar Awards
Nigerian singer, Temilade Openiyi, professionally known as Tems, has been nominated for the 2023 Academy Awards.
She was nominated in the category of Best Original Song for her contribution as a songwriter for “Lift Me Up,” the soundtrack for Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
Tems co-wrote the song with Rihanna, music producer Ludwig Göransson, and the film’s director Ryan Coogler.
The nominees for the 95th Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday, with the sci-fi film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” leading the pack with 11 nominations.
Here are the full list of the nomination:
Best picture.
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Malte Grunert, Producer
“Avatar: The Way of Water,” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers
“Elvis,” Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers
“The Fabelmans,” Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, Producers
“Tár,” Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, Producers
“Top Gun: Maverick,” Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers
“Triangle of Sadness,” Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers
“Women Talking,” Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers
Best Director
Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”)
Todd Field (“Tár”)
Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”)
Best Lead Actor
Austin Butler (“Elvis”)
Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”)
Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”)
Bill Nighy (“Living”)
Best Lead Actress
Cate Blanchett (“Tár”)
Ana de Armas (“Blonde”)
Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”)
Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”)
Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Best Supporting Actor
Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”)
Judd Hirsch (“The Fabelmans”)
Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Best Supporting Actress
Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)
Hong Chau (“The Whale”)
Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Best Adapted Screenplay
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” Written by Rian Johnson
“Living,” Written by Kazuo Ishiguro
“Top Gun: Maverick,” Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
“Women Talking,” Screenplay by Sarah Polley
Best Original Screenplay
“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Written by Martin McDonagh
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
“The Fabelmans,” Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
“Tár,” Written by Todd Field
“Triangle of Sadness,” Written by Ruben Östlund
Best Cinematography
“All Quiet on the Western Front”, James Friend
“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” Darius Khondji
“Elvis,” Mandy Walker
“Empire of Light,” Roger Deakins
“Tár,” Florian Hoffmeister
Best Documentary Feature Film
“All That Breathes,” Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov
“Fire of Love,” Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman
“A House Made of Splinters,” Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström
“Navalny,” Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris
Best Documentary Short Film
“The Elephant Whisperers,” Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga
“Haulout,” Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev
“How Do You Measure a Year?” Jay Rosenblatt
“The Martha Mitchell Effect,” Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison
“Stranger at the Gate,” Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones
Best Film Editing
“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
“Elvis,” Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Paul Rogers
“Tár,” Monika Willi
“Top Gun: Maverick,” Eddie Hamilton
Best International Feature Film
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany)
“Argentina, 1985” (Argentina)
“Close” (Belgium)
“EO” (Poland)
“The Quiet Girl” (Ireland)
Best Original Song
“Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman,” Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick,” Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler
“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR,” Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose
“This Is a Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne
Best Production Design
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper
“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole
“Babylon,” Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino
“Elvis,” Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn
“The Fabelmans,” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara
Best Visual Effects
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar
“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
“The Batman,” Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick
“Top Gun: Maverick,” Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher
Best Animated Feature Film
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” Joel Crawford and Mark Swift
“The Sea Beast,” Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger
“Turning Red,” Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins
Best Animated Short Film
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud
“The Flying Sailor,” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
“Ice Merchants,” João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano
“My Year of Dicks,” Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon
“An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It,” Lachlan Pendragon
Best Costume Design
“Babylon,” Mary Zophres
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Ruth Carter
“Elvis,” Catherine Martin
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Shirley Kurata
“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” Jenny Beavan
Best Live Action Short
“An Irish Goodbye,” Tom Berkeley and Ross White
“Ivalu,” Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan
“Le Pupille,” Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
“Night Ride,” Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen
“The Red Suitcase,” Cyrus Neshvad
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
“The Batman,” Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
“Elvis,” Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti
“The Whale,” Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley
Best Original Score
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Volker Bertelmann
“Babylon,” Justin Hurwitz
“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Carter Burwell
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Son Lux
“The Fabelmans,” John Williams
Best Sound
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte
“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges
“The Batman,” Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson
“Elvis,” David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller
“Top Gun: Maverick,” Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor.
Entertainment
Nollywood Mourns as Veteran Actor Francis Duru Dies at 57
The Nigerian film industry has been thrown into mourning following the death of veteran Nollywood actor Francis Duru, who died at the age of 57 after a brief illness.
Duru’s family announced his death on Friday in a statement shared on the actor’s official Instagram page. The National President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Abubakar Yakubu, also confirmed the development.
Born on July 27, 1969, Duru rose to prominence for his portrayal of Ahanna in Amaka Igwe’s 1995 film Rattlesnake, a role that helped establish him as a recognisable face in Nollywood.
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The actor featured in several other productions throughout his career, including Blood Money and Merry Men, earning recognition for his contributions to Nigerian film and television.
Over the years, Duru established himself as a veteran performer whose work contributed to the growth and development of the Nigerian entertainment industry.
His death comes months after he dismissed speculation about his health following the circulation of a video in June that raised concerns among fans.
Duru’s passing marks a loss for Nollywood, with colleagues, fans and other entertainment industry stakeholders expected to pay tribute to the actor and celebrate his contributions to Nigerian cinema.
Entertainment
Ekuafeh Explores Human Uniqueness, Bond, Connection in Unity Forged in Clay
Nigerian ceramic sculptor and artist, Chris Onaivi Ekuafeh, has opened Unity Forged in Clay, a solo exhibition that draws on clay, culture and personal experience to explore one of humanity’s enduring questions, “How can people remain different and still belong together?”
The exhibition opened on Saturday, September 26, at Quintessence Gallery, Victoria Island, Lagos, and continues until October 10, 2026.
Featuring 13 ceramic works, Unity Forged in Clay is Ekuafeh’s first solo exhibition on Nigerian soil and follows his first solo show in China in 2025, after a residency at the Taoxichuan Arts Centre in Jingdezhen, one of the world’s historic centres of ceramic art. At the heart of the exhibition are two deceptively simple questions: What is unity? And are we united as a people?
Ekuafeh, however, thinks unity does not necessarily have to demand uniformity. “Unity, for me, is not sameness,” he said. The idea is reflected throughout a body of work in which distinct forms, patterns, faces and cultural references coexist while retaining their individual character. “Unity unveils to me bits and pieces of different entities coming together to achieve a thing,” he said.
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Works in the exhibition include Identity, Where We Connect, What the Fire Kept and Kin, with titles across English, Yoruba and Ekuafeh’s native Igarra language. The choice of language, like the forms themselves, is driven by the story and meaning of each piece rather than by a single cultural frame.
The works reflect a creative journey formed across several Nigerian environments and traditions. Born in Kano and trained at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he studied Industrial Design with a specialisation in ceramics, Ekuafeh says his exposure to northern Nigerian architecture and material culture first awakened his fascination with clay.
The geometric patterns associated with northern architecture continue to appear in his work, while the distinctive faces he carves into some of his pieces draw from his Edo heritage. Lagos, where he now lives and works, has added another layer to the practice, exposing him to contemporary artistic influences and encouraging an increasingly research-driven approach. The result is an artistic vocabulary in which culture, identity, spirituality, emotion, community and human connection repeatedly intersect.
Ekuafeh said clay is more than a convenient artistic medium. His relationship with the material begins from sourcing from the earth, digging, preparing and processing the clay before shaping it into finished work. That physical process has become part of his understanding of both creativity and human experience.
The work captures that connection through scenes of the artist working directly with clay – pressing, shaping, carving and building – alongside reflections on diversity, fracture, belonging and the continuous work required to sustain unity. Rather than provide predetermined answers, Unity Forged in Clay invites viewers to arrive at their own.
Individual works combine sculptural forms with recurring markings, human features and patterns that encourage closer looking. Some begin with sketches and carefully developed ideas; others evolve more organically as Ekuafeh works with the material, allowing the form to develop alongside the thought that inspired it.
This tension between intention and discovery is central to his practice. Clay becomes both material and collaborator. And the exhibition is a visible expression of the process. Unity Forged in Clay is an opportunity to bring years of experimentation, cultural inquiry and technical practice into a focused solo presentation before returning to the studio to develop the next body of work, Ekuafeh said.
Beyond that, however, Unity Forged in Clay leaves its larger question with the audience. “If different particles of earth can be worked, fired and brought together without losing the marks that make each form distinctive, what might that suggest about people, communities and society?”
Photo Caption: From Left, Ofuma Agali, Business Lead, The Candella & Company; Saheedat Lawal, Gallery Supervisor, Quintessence Gallery; and Chris Ekuafeh; at Ekuafeh’s ‘Unity Forged in Clay’ exhibition, held at Quintessence Gallery, Victoria Island, Lagos, Saturday, 26 September 2026
Entertainment
JUST IN: Veteran Actor Olu Jacobs Dies at 84
Veteran Nigerian actor and film executive, Oludotun Baiyewu Jacobs, popularly known as Olu Jacobs, has died at the age of 84.
His death was announced by his son, Olusoji Jacobs, in a statement shared on Instagram on Wednesday, September 16, 2026.
The family described the late actor as “The Lion of Lufodo” and appealed to bloggers and social media influencers to respect their privacy as they mourned his passing.
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“It is with gratitude to God for a life well lived and fought, that we announce the passing of our dear husband, father, grandfather and uncle. The Lion of Lufodo,” the statement read.
The family identified him as Oludotun Baiyewun Jacobs, MFR, and gave his dates as July 11, 1942, to September 16, 2026.
Jacobs was one of Nigeria’s most recognised veteran actors, with a career spanning theatre, television and film.





