In spite of its acclaim, one of the biggest pieces of cinema to come out of Nigeria in recent memory was deemed ineligible for the Best International Film category at the Oscars for a surprising reason.
According to The Wrap, it was announced that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has disqualified the film Lionheart from the Oscar race.
The film would have been Nigeria’s entry in the Best International Film Category at the 2020 Oscars. The film’s disqualification was announced in an email to Academy voters on Monday.
The film, which was directed by and stars Nollywood icon Genevieve Nnaji as a woman who tries to save the company of her ailing father from debt, was said to have violated an Academy rule that mandates entries in the Best International Film Category must have “a predominantly non-English dialogue track.” It is worth noting that Nigeria’s official language is English, and the Oscars recently changed the category name from Best Foreign Language Film to Best International Film.
Many on Twitter have spoken out about the disqualification, including Ava DuVernay.
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
Nnaji herself also commented on the matter, quoting DuVernay’s tweet.
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
The film, which is now available as a Netflix original film, was Nigeria’s first submission in the Best international Film Oscar category. Netflix acquired the film after it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Shadow And Act has reached out to The Academy for comment on the change.
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Photo: Netflix
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