Nigerians wasted no time showing their displeasure at the Oscars’ disqualification of Genevieve Nnaji’s “Lionheart” film. The film which premiered on Netflix was very well received by Nigerian movie lovers and critics, and was Nollywood’s first-ever submission for the Best International Film category.

Created in 2006 to spotlight films with diverse cultures, one of the rules for the category is that eligible movies must have “Predominantly non-English dialogue.” National loyalties aside, it’s hard to rule out the negligence on the path of the Nigerian academy for submitting the film without confirming that it met the requirements for the category.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) Nigeria isn’t the only country that has been disqualified from the category, as Austria’s entry, Sudabeh Mortezai’s “Joy” also violated the Academy’s rule against the use of the English language. The larger split of the English and German dialogue on “Joy” falls to the English side. This knocks out Sudabeh Mortezai’s film from being considered for the award despite the strong message on African women caught up in sex trafficking in Vienna, and drops the total number of films in the category down to 91.

See the trailer for “Joy” below.

Featured Image Credits: YouTube/Filmladen Filmverleih

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ICYMI: Nigerians expressing displeasure with “Lionheart”‘s disqualification from Oscars