Nigeria's Oscar race entry Lionheart disqualified by Academy over use of English

[just444]

Academy Rules Under Fire After Nigeria Disqualified from International Film Race https://t.co/MXlyI2Fldg pic.twitter.com/BnvlZdcS8u
- Anne Thompson (@akstanwyck) November 5, 2019

source 2

AMPAS requires movies to have a 'predominantly non-English dialogue track' to be eligible for the Best International Feature Film award

80% of the dialogue in

Comments

[milfordacademy]

it was Best Foreign-Language Film until 2019. they changed it to Best International Film for the 2020 which makes this rule/disqualification sound even stupider

[toxic_illusion]

So much stupider! This is so dumb.

[alienjiive]

That’s idiotic

[glutenfreefool]

The colonists strike again.

Is being in a foreign/non-English language a requirement for the award? They know so so many countries have populations of people who speak English from a young age, right?

[katheli]

technically yes being in a foreign language is the only requirement for the award, it was for some dumb reason renamed from the Best Film in a Foreign Language to this mess, which doesn't even make sense cause "international" (English-speaking) films already compete for all the awards anyway.

[glutenfreefool]

Ahh, I see. Ty. Stupid Oscars. 😒

[smashmortion]

they renamed the category because Alfonso Cuaron lobbied for it and joked that he loved foreign movies like JAWS and THE GODFATHER when he won for ROMA

[sweeeetnatural]

Rules are the rules.

Sorry!

[polynucleotide]

if they were going to change the name of the award they should have changed the rules to allow countries that spoke english to compete (hence why nigeria never submitted itself before).

[scriptedending]

I don't know why they renamed the award, because now it's that much more confusing. I don't know what the answer is, but I thought this critic's reasoning seemed pretty solid:

Turning the category effectively into Best Non-US Film would make sense only if the Oscars were otherwise a US-only awards ceremony, like the Independent Spirit Awards. But it's not, however US-biased it often is. Follow BAFTA and call it Best Film Not in the English Language.
- Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) November 5, 2019

It does have to be asked: why did it take the Academy over a month to vet the film, making the disqualification that much more painful and awkward? If they'd caught this earlier, could an alternative submission have been made?
- Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) November 5, 2019

[ms_mmelissa]

IA w/ this.

[musicnkisses]

I agree

[surprisesidney]

I mean, it would be nice if they could have two international categories, for English and non-English films. But that would mean 1. admitting their American bias and 2. introducing a new category, neither of which they would do. And I still think they should have a casting award too, but they wouldn't create a category that would be dominated by women either.