Academy Criticized For Disqualifying Nigerian Film Entry For Its English Dialogue

People on social media have expressed disappointment that Nigeria’s Oscar entry, the film “Lionheart,” has been disqualified to compete in the International Feature Film category.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced earlier this week that it disqualified “Lionheart” in that category since most of the dialogue in the film is in English, The Wrap reported.

The rules for the International Feature category state that a submission must be a “feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States of America with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.”

As The New York Times noted, the Academy had disqualified the 2015 entry from Afghanistan, “Utopia,” citing the same rule.

But the decision to disqualify “Lionheart” is now facing criticism, with commentators pointing out that English is the official language in Nigeria as a result of colonization.