Lionheart, Nigeria’s entry for the international feature film Oscar category, was disqualified on Monday because it contained too much English dialogue.
The film is Nigeria’s first-ever submission to the Academy Awards. According to the Academy’s rules for the international feature film category, “an international film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (defined as over 40 minutes) produced outside the United States of America with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.” Lionheart has just under 12 minutes of dialogue that is in the Igbo language native to Southeastern Nigeria, while the rest of the 94-minute pic is in English.
The film’s director and producer, Genevieve Nnaji, who also stars in the movie criticized the Academy’s decision, saying her film represents the way Nigerians speak.
“This includes English which acts as a bridge between the 500+ languages spoken in our country; thereby making us #OneNigeria,” Nnaji says. “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.”
Fellow directorDuVernay also slammed the decision in a tweet, saying “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?”
Lionheart is still eligible for Oscar consideration in several other categories, including Best Picture.
