The Nigeria Oscar Selection Committee (NOSC) had last month announced its selection of ‘LionHeart’, Genevieve Nnaji’s directorial debut movie, as Nige
The Nigeria Oscar Selection Committee (NOSC) had last month announced its selection of ‘LionHeart’, Genevieve Nnaji’s directorial debut movie, as Nigeria’s entry for the 2020 Oscars in a move that spurred mixed reactions among Nigerians amid a comparison frenzy. Also earlier this week, the committee similarly announced that it had submitted the selection to the 92nd Academy Awards’ ‘International Feature Film’ category — as the shortlist of ten films set to be made known on December 16, while nominations come on January 13. Chineze Anyaene, a renowned Nollywood director and producer, who chairs the NOSC, opened up on the rationale behind the choice of ‘LionHeart’ s Nigeria’s entry.
Chineze Anyaene, a film maker herself said, “As soon as we got the letter that our committee had been approved for the 92nd Oscars, following our re-application after the dissolve, we had about three weeks to make a submission. So we put out press releases, got about 14 submissions, and screened these till we were down to six. People need to understand that it’s a 12-man committee comprised of professionals from different spheres of the Nollywood industry. We gave each committee member a screener to watch. After that, we converged in a conference, discussed at length, and had a secret ballot voting.
“Genevieve’s movie came first. Every committee member who voted for her film must have had personal reasons. And there are many other reasons for which a movie would qualify because we are given a list of that by the academy. We analyzed each film to figure out if they met the requirements. Genevieve’s ‘Lionheart’ was Nigeria’s only international export. It was the only film among the six that had screened in a top festival. It was Nollywood’s first Netflix original. That should have been the first. When you consider the production value of that film as well, you would see that it was.
“Other films had similar advantages and a fair chance of getting selected. It was a very tough decision to make. It was all talking for hours, not as if the film just beat the others. But, as I said, I’m sure every committee member had various reasons and criteria which eventually prompted their voting ‘Lionheart’.”
