A group of Nepali filmmakers has reportedly filed a formal complaint with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that challenges the country\u2019s submission of \u201cAnjila\u201d for the international feature Oscar, alleging conflicts of interest and violations of procedure. \u201cAnjila\u201d director Milan Chams dismissed the complaint as \u201cpersonal disappointment\u201d from rival filmmakers.<\/p>\n
The protest targets the selection of \u201cAnjila,\u201d a biographical drama about Anjila Tumbapo Subba, captain and goalkeeper of Nepal\u2019s women\u2019s national soccer team, who stars as herself. The film traces her rise from a restrictive home life to leading the squad, highlighting her struggles against social expectations.<\/p>\n
More from TheWrap<\/strong><\/p>\n Chams called the complaint as \u201cpersonal disappointment\u201d and accused Samundra Bhatta, director of the competing film \u201cGunyo Cholo,\u201d of offering up to $100,000 to dislodge his movie from consideration.<\/p>\n \u201cShe expressed complete confidence her film would be selected, citing personal relationships with committee members,\u201d Chams said in a statement to Variety.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Neither Chams nor Bhatta responded to requests for comment Saturday. The Academy also did not immediately return messages seeking comment.<\/p>\n Filmmakers Deepak Rauniyar and Binod Paudel, among others, allege the process was conducted in near secrecy. They say the application window was reduced to nine days during a national crisis that included curfews and the prime minister\u2019s resignation, leaving many unable to submit films. They also point to committee member Jeevan Kumar Parajuli\u2019s dual role as both a voter and \u201cAnjila\u2019s\u201d media coordinator as an \u201cobvious conflict of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is so unfair to Nepali filmmakers,\u201d producer Ram Krishna Pokharel wrote on social media, criticizing the lack of public notice.<\/p>\n The Academy requires each country\u2019s selection committee to publish its process but does not dictate procedures beyond compliance with eligibility rules. Nepal\u2019s submission deadline is Oct. 1, after which the Academy will vet entries.<\/p>\n The protesting filmmakers are urging the Academy to void Nepal\u2019s submission and order a restart with a 30-day application window and independent oversight.<\/p>\n The post Nepali Filmmakers Challenge \u2018Anjila\u2019 International Feature Oscar Entry, Director Calls It \u2018Personal\u2019 Attack<\/a> appeared first on TheWrap<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A group of Nepali filmmakers has reportedly filed a formal complaint with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that challenges the country\u2019s submission of \u201cAnjila\u201d for the international feature Oscar, alleging conflicts of interest and violations of procedure. \u201cAnjila\u201d director Milan Chams dismissed the complaint as \u201cpersonal disappointment\u201d from rival filmmakers. The protest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2029849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[382056,382054,382059,382257,382062,355970],"class_list":["post-2055186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-academy-of-motion-picture-arts-and-sciences","tag-anjila-tumbapo-subba","tag-formal-complaint","tag-personal-disappointment","tag-samundra-bhatta","tag-the-academy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Ben-Stiller-Jessica-Chastain-to-Star-in-Apple-TV-Thriller.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2055186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2055186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2055186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2029849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2055186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2055186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2055186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/div>\n