According to TheWrap, the film was dropped from the Best International Feature Film category because it’s mostly in English, which violates an Academy rule stating that entries in the category must have “a predominantly non-English dialogue track.”
Don’t forget English is the official language of Nigeria. It’s like if the Portugal Film Academy disqualifying a Brazilian film.
Ava Duvernay came to the defense of the film Lionhearted via Twitter.
https://twitter.com/ava/status/1191481642734387200?s=21
Genevieve Nnaji thank Ava for the support and also questions the Academy decision.
1/1 1/2 Thank you so much @ava❤️.
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://t.co/LMfWDDNV3e— Genevieve Nnaji MFR (@GenevieveNnaji1) November 4, 2019
2/2 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. @TheAcademy https://t.co/LMfWDDNV3e
— Genevieve Nnaji MFR (@GenevieveNnaji1) November 4, 2019
