Genevieve Nnaji reacts to Oscar Academy’s disqualification of her ‘Lionheart’
Genevieve Nnaji has reacted to the Oscar Academy’s disqualification of her movie, “Lionheart” from the race in the Best International Feature Film category for being too English.
“Lionheart,” in which Nnaji also stars, is partially in the Igbo language of Nigeria but it is mostly in English, the Academy claimed.
According to actress-turned-director, the Academy shouldn’t have disqualified the film because it is not different from how French connects communities in former French colonies.
In a series of tweets on her official Twitter page, she wrote:
“Thank you so much. 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. ”
Lionheart is Nigeria’s first-ever film submitted to the Oscars by Nigeria.
The Academy announced the disqualification of “Lionheart” to voters in the category in an email on Monday.
