Nigeria’s “Lionheart” directed by Genevive Nnaji has been disqualified from the oscar race in the Best International Feature Film category.
The reason for this sudden development is, the film, Nigeria’s first-ever entry does not meet the language requirement for inclusion in the category since it was filmed in mostly English. Dropping the number of films competing for the award from 93 entries to 92, “Lionheart” violates the Academy rule.
The rule states that entries in the category must have a “predominately non- English dialogue track.”
Genevieve’s Lionheart which debuts on Netflix became Netflix’s first original film from Nigeria. It tells the story of a woman who has to step up to run her father’s company. The film which is partially in the Igbo language also portrays the African tradition and culture.
With this discrimination, aggrieved Nigerians have described the Oscar Nominations Committee as callous for setting outrageous rules governing their selection. Hollywood director, Ava DuVernay tweeted her disappointment while Genevieve tweeted in response.
See comments from twitter:
This is not the first time the Oscar has disqualified a foreign film from consideration for having too much English dialogue. In recent years, the 2015 Afghan film “Utopia” and the 2007 Israeli movie “The Band’s Visit” were disqualified for the same reason.
Despite the academy’s language requirement, in 1983 a completely dialogue-free film, “Le Bal,” earned a nomination.