Veteran Nollywood Actress, Genevieve Nnaji has reacted to the disqualification of Lionheart by the 2020 Oscars for the Best International Feature film category.
Lionheart which is Nnaji’s first directorial attempt, after over three decades of acting, was selected as Nigeria’s entry by the Nigerian Oscars Selection Committee (NOSC), only to be disqualified for having too much English language dialogue.
READ ALSO: Nigeria’s Oscar Entry ‘Lionheart’ Disqualified
Nnaji who took to Twitter to express her position on the recent development said the movie represents the way we speak as Nigerians.
She also took out time to respond to a reaction by Ava Marie DuVernay, an American filmmaker and distributor, who had expressed concern over the reason given by The Oscars for disqualifying Lionheart.
“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.”
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
