Nigeria loses out on 92nd Academy Awards
When the news broke in October this year that the Nigerian Oscars Selection Committee (NOSC), has picked Genevieve Nnaji’s ‘Lionheart’ as the country’s submission to the International Feature Film category of the 2020 Oscars, the film industry stakeholders and film lovers alike were glad for the feat.
It was a feat for the industry because after the approval and subsequent inauguration of the NOSC in February 2014, Nollywood could not present any film for the Oscars as the few submissions did not meet basic criteria.
For the NOSC, Lionheart had so much going for it; in terms of quality, technicality, picture, sound, great cast and production.
Aside being directed by Genevieve Nnaji, the film had successful theatrical release in Nigeria in December 2018 and subsequent worldwide release on January 4, 2019. It also premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, and was acquired on September 7, 2018, as first Netflix original film produced in Nigeria.
Sadly, Nigeria’s hope of competing at the 92nd Academy Awards was dashed on December 4, 2019 when the Academy announced the disqualification of Lionheart from 92 films submitted for the International Feature Film category of the 2020 Oscars.
The justification for the disqualification was that Lionheart did not meet just one of the requirements for the award.
According to the Academy, “Nominees in its Best International Feature Film Category must have a predominantly nonEnglish dialogue track, and ‘Lionheart’ despite being an unmistakably Nigerian film, did not tick this particular box”.
However, NOSC explains that, “Lionheart passed on other technical requirements from story, to sound and picture except for language as adjudged by the Academy screening matrix, which was a challenge for the committee at a time. This is an eye opener and step forward into growing a better industry”.
Responding to the disqualification, Chineze Anyaene, the chairperson of NOSC, said:
“The budding Nigerian film industry is often faced with producing films with wide reach which often makes the recording dialogue predominantly English with non-english infusions in some cases.
Going forward, the committee intends to submit films which are predominantly foreign language – non-english recording dialogue. We are therefore urging filmmakers to shoot with intention of non-english recording dialogue as a key qualifying parameter to represent the country in the most prestigious award.
The committee is working tirelessly in organising workshops, seminars and using other available media to create robust awareness on the guidelines and requirements for an International Feature Film Entry”.
To avoid the pitfall in subsequent submissions, Anyaene itemised the requirements in the Best International Feature Film category.
According to her, the film must have been first released in the country submitting it, after which it must have been exhibited for a minimum of 7 consecutive days in a movie theatre, secondly, the movie must be predominantly non-english, which means that movies with predominant English dialogue will not qualify for the award, and finally, the film must not be transmitted electronically or otherwise, before its official release in the theatre.
As expected, Genevieve Nnaji is not happy with the disqualification of her film. The director took to her twitter handle to express her displeasure.
“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.
“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”, she tweeted on handle @Genevievennaji1.
Also reacting to the disqualification and replying to Nnaji’s earlier tweets, Molara Wood, a Nigerian writer, tweeted on her handle @molarawood, “Interesting point. A film from a Francophone African country, in the colonizer’s French, would qualify as ‘Foreign Language’ at the Oscars. No such luck for films in English from Anglophone African countries, it would seem”.
But some others think that the category stipulated a predominantly non- English language film, while Lionheart was predominantly in English, hence the disqualification.
While the world awaits the announcements of the shortlist of 10 films on December 16, 2019, and nominations for the 92nd Oscars on January 13, 2020, Nigerian filmmakers are now more informed on how to make films for the Oscars.
The 92nd Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.