AMVCA 2026: Gingerrr and The Herd Lead With Nine Nominations Each. The More Important Story Is What Is Missing.
Gingerrr and The Herd lead the AMVCA 2026 field with nine nominations each. The more revealing story: every title in the Best Movie category had a cinema run. Streaming platforms, once dominant in these nominations, are entirely absent from the top category. The theatrical market has reasserted itself as the credibility standard.
The nominations for the 12th Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards AMVCA were announced on March 29, with the ceremony locked in for May 9 in Lagos. Gingerrr and The Herd lead the field at nine nominations each. To Kill A Monkey follows with eight, My Father’s Shadow with seven, The Serpent’s Gift and 3 Cold Dishes with six apiece. Funke Akindele’s Behind The Scenes, which grossed ₦2.76 billion to become the highest-earning Nigerian film of all time, secured five nominations. On the surface, it is a clean, competitive field built around the films that earned it.
The detail that changes the texture of the nominations is in the Best Movie category specifically: every nominated title had a cinema run. Not a single nomination went to a title that premiered on Netflix, Prime Video, or any other streaming platform. International streaming, which had strong representation in previous AMVCA editions when Netflix was actively commissioning and acquiring Nigerian originals, has no meaningful presence at the top of this year’s ballot.
That absence is not accidental. It is a reflection of a structural shift that has been building for three years and is now visible in the industry’s own awards architecture. The films that are getting recognised are the films that went to cinema, built theatrical audiences, and generated the kind of word-of-mouth cultural conversation that the AMVCA’s voting base responds to. The streaming originals, when they existed in quantity, could generate comparable cultural noise. Right now, they are not being made in the quantity or at the quality level that would put them in contention. The theatrical market has reasserted itself as the credibility benchmark for Nigerian film, and the AMVCA nominations confirm it.
On the technical side, the nominations produce one of the year’s genuinely remarkable individual stories. Cinematographer Emmanuel Igbekele received three separate nominations in the Best Cinematography category — for The Herd, The Serpent’s Gift, and Gingerrr — making this his first-ever appearance on the AMVCA nominations list, and doing it three times simultaneously. Sound practitioner Tolu Obanro picked up double recognition for his work on Gingerrr and The Party. Veteran actress Sola Sobowale secured nominations in both lead and supporting categories. Lateef Adedimeji earned multiple acting nods across Red Circle, Gingerrr, and Lisabi 2.
The 12th AMVCA has also expanded its geography with two new categories: Best Indigenous Language Film – North Africa and Best Indigenous Language Film – Central Africa. Both represent the organisation’s most concrete statement yet that it understands itself as a pan-African institution rather than a Nigerian one with African adjacency. Veteran actress Joke Silva has been appointed Head Judge for this edition.
Public voting is open until April 26. Winners are announced May 9.
AMVCA 12 — May 9, 2026, Lagos. Headline sponsor Don Julio. Hosted by Chimezie Imo. Voting open across select categories until April 26.
Kate Adeyemi is NollyPrime's Senior Industry Correspondent. She has covered the business of Nigerian film and television for fourteen years.