The Academy has disqualified Nigeria’s Lionheart movie from the Oscar nominations in the Best International Feature Film category.
The movie, which is actress Genevieve Nnaji’s directorial debut, was the first film ever submitted to the Oscars by Nigeria.
According to the Academy, Lionheart, which is partially in Igbo, violates the rule that entries in the category must have “a predominantly non-English dialogue track.”
The movie had not been reviewed by the Academy’s International Feature Film Award Executive Committee before it was announced as one of the qualifying films. It was however recently viewed and found not to qualify in its category.
Genevieve has reacted to the sad news of the disqualification. Her reaction came after American filmmaker, Ava DuVernay, called out the Academy for the reason it was disqualified.
To @TheAcademy, You disqualified Nigeria’s first-ever submission for Best International Feature because its in English. But English is the official language of Nigeria. Are you barring this country from ever competing for an Oscar in its official language? https://t.co/X3EGb01tPF
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) November 4, 2019
Following Ava’s comment, Genevieve responded that the movie represents the way we speak as Nigerians. This includes English which acts as a bridge between the 500+ languages spoken in our country.
1/1 1/2 Thank you so much @ava??.
I am the director of Lionheart. This movie represents the way we speak as Nigerians. This includes English which acts as a bridge between the 500+ languages spoken in our country; thereby making us #OneNigeria. @TheAcademy https://t.co/LMfWDDNV3e— Genevieve Nnaji MFR (@GenevieveNnaji1) November 4, 2019
2/2 It’s no different to how French connects communities in former French colonies. We did not choose who colonized us. As ever, this film and many like it, is proudly Nigerian. @TheAcademy https://t.co/LMfWDDNV3e
— Genevieve Nnaji MFR (@GenevieveNnaji1) November 4, 2019
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