2024 Critics Poll: The Best Nollywood Films and Performances, According to 14 Nigerian Critics from Around the World

This year, every critic could select their top 5 films from a list of 79 released films across cinemas and streaming services (Prime Video, Showmax and Netflix most notably). And they were awarded points as shown below:

1st place: 10
2nd place: 5
3rd place: 3
4th place: 2
5th place: 1

The results, which also includes the best performances and directors,  differ from What Kept Me Up’s list which we publish annually in the first week of December.

While fewer, the participating active critics this year are mostly freelancers who have written across several publications. Some participating critics are from AfroCritik, In Nollywood, the now defunct Nollywood Reinvented, and Instagram pages like Marapolsa Reviews and Nigerian Movie Reviews.
Others include audiovisual outlets, like Iroko Critic, Halimah Yusuf and Nollywood Bants.

In the directors and performances categories, each critic could select 3 names in each category, with each mention counting as votes for the filmmaker/actor. The names with at least 2 votes have made it to the list.

(Consideration window: Films released to the general audience for the first time between December 1, 2023 – November 30, 2024).

Films of The Year

1. With Difficulty Comes Ease (Prime Video)
2. Breath of Life (Prime Video)
3. A Tribe Called Judah (premiered in cinemas, now streaming on Prime Video)
4. Funmilayo Ransome Kuti (premiered in cinemas, now streaming on Prime Video)
5. Wives on Strike 3  (premiered in cinemas)
6. Kill Boro (Prime Video)
7. A Green Fever (Prime Video)
8. Afamefuna (premiered in cinemas, now streaming on Netflix)

Directors of The Year

1. Korede Azeez (With Difficulty Comes Ease)
2. B.B. Sasore (Breath of Life)
3. Bolanle Austen-Peters (Funmilayo Ransome Kuti), Taiwo Egunjobi (A Green Fever)
4. Courage Obayuwana (Kill Boro)

Performances of The Year

1. Uzoamaka Aniunoh (With Difficulty Comes Ease)
2. Kehinde Bankole (Funmilayo Ransome Kuti)
3. Hilda Dokubo (Wives on Strike 3)
4. Philip Asaya (Kill Boro), Uche Chika Elumelu (Suspicion), Femi Branch (House of Ga’a), Chimezie Imo (Breath of Life)

 The names of the participating critics and how they voted can be seen here.

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