The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has
disqualified ‘Lionheart’, Nigeria’s first ever entry for the Oscars in the
‘Best International Feature Film’ category, for featuring too much English,
which happens to be the official language of the country.
Directed by and starring Nigerian actress Genevieve Nnaji,
the film has been streaming on Netflix, and was also the first original
Nigerian film. Reportedly, the film was withdrawn after the Academy ruled that
it didn’t meet the requirements for the award.
Grow your business with us
@GenevieveNnaji1
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://twitter.com/ava/status/1191481642734387200 …
@ava
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://www.thewrap.com/academy-disqualifies-nigerias-oscar-entry-lionheart/ …
Films in the category must be produced outside the United
States with a predominantly non-English dialogue track, according to the
Academy’s rules.
According to reports, movie has too many dialogues in
English, which doesn’t meet the requirement of Academy rules for ‘Best
International Feature Film’ category.
‘Lionheart’ has just under 12 minutes of dialogue that is in
the Igbo language [Nigerian language], while the rest of the 95-minute feature
is in English, according to Hollywood Reporter.
The film was also premiered at the Toronto International Film
Festival in 2018. It tells the story of a woman, who struggles to assume
control of her family’s transportation company.