Genevieve Nnaji, American female director, Ava DuVernay and a few other have both taken to Twitter to call out the Academy for disqualifying ‘Lionhear
Genevieve Nnaji, American female director, Ava DuVernay and a few other have both taken to Twitter to call out the Academy for disqualifying ‘Lionheart’ from the Oscar race in the Best International Film category.
‘Lionheart’ had not been vetted by the Academy’s International Feature Film Award Executive Committee in advance of the Oct. 7 announcement of qualifying films but was recently viewed and determined not to qualify in a category that until this year was known as Best Foreign Language Film. Apparently, the Academy’s grouse is that English is majorly spoken in the film.
Which is why Ava DuVernay, Genevieve Nnaji and a few others took to their social media to call out the organisation and also to remind them of the legacy of colonisation which is why Nigeria is an English-speaking country.
See their tweets below:
, your criteria is valid, but so is our reality. Creating 2 categories – Best Foreign Film and Best International Film – is probably best. Filmmakers don’t make films for awards. We make films for our audience. #Lionheart”
, 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?”
