azonwuka@yahoo.com
0809-8727-263 (sms only)
Last week, when it was announced that the Lionheart movie had been disqualified by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, many Nigerians received the story with sadness and disappointment. Many had hoped that it would be Nigeria’s first film to win an Oscar.
Writing on the disqualification, Fast Company, the American business magazine, said: “Lionheart is, by most accounts, a charming, well-made film about a woman battling the corporate patriarchy upon taking over a company from her ailing father. It’s also Nigeria’s first submission for the Best International Feature Film Oscar-or at least it would have been, had the Academy not deemed it inadmissible. The reason? The film does not have a sufficient proportion of foreign language in its dialogue. (It’s almost entirely in English, save for about 10 minutes of Igbo.)”
Nigerians reacted angrily to that disqualification, given that English is Nigeria’s official language and that the award is called “Best International Feature Film.” Some non-Nigerians joined in the condemnation of that disqualification. Tweeting her condemnation, the director of The 13th and Central Park Five, Ava DuVernay, said:
“To @TheAcademy, You disqualified Nigeria’s first-ever submission for Best International Feature because its (sic) in English. But English is the official language of Nigeria. Are you barring this country from ever competing for an Oscar in its official language?”
Genevieve Nnaji, who directed the film, responded to her thus:
“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. It’s no different to (sic) how French connects communities in former French colonies. We did not choose who colonised us. As ever, this film and many like it, is (sic) proudly Nigerian. @TheAcademy.”
However, it seems that one source of confusion is the name of the category: “Best International Feature Film.” What language qualifies as “international”? To most Nigerians and others who are not members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, no language can be more “international” than English. Because of the problem of nomenclature and perception, the name of the category was changed earlier this year from “Best Foreign-Language Film” to “Best International Feature Film.” The question used to be “which language is foreign and where is regarded as Ground Zero in the choice of what is local and what is foreign”? Unfortunately, that name change has created another problem for the body known for the most prestigious film awards.
However, the key rule for the category is that the film has to be done predominantly in a language other than English. Reacting to the controversy created by the disqualification of Lionheart, Oscar’s International Film Executive Committee co-chair, Larry Karaszewski, told Deadline:”If you’re submitting for something as important as an Academy Award, I would think you should look at the rules.” Lionheart has 11 minutes of non-English conversation, which is considered too little by the committee.
In a face-saving move, the Nigerian Oscars Selection Committee reacted to the disqualification last week by taking responsibility for the mistake of submitting Lionheart for consideration. In a statement released by the chairperson, Chineze Anyaene, last Tuesday, it said:
“The budding Nigerian film industry is often faced with producing films with wide reach which often makes the recording dialogue predominantly English with non-English infusions in some cases. Going forward, the committee intends to submit films that are predominantly foreign language – non-English recording dialogue.
“The committee is working tirelessly in organising workshops, seminars and using other available media to create robust awareness on the guidelines and requirements for an International Feature Film Entry. Lionheart passed on other technical requirements from story, to sound and picture except for language as adjudged by the Academy screening matrix, which was a challenge for the committee at a time. This is an eye-opener and a step forward into growing a better industry,” the statement read.”
Lionheart is not the first film to be disqualified for the same reason of having too much English. In 2007, the Israeli film, The Band’s Visit, was disqualified for the same reason. But English is not the number one language in Israel as it is in Nigeria. The implication of this non-English language criterion is that countries like Jamaica, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, which have no other language except English, are naturally disqualified from participating in this category. Another reality is that if Genevieve had crossed over to Benin Republic to shoot the film in more of French than English, it would have scaled the language hurdle set by the Oscar committee. Since the United States of America is an English-speaking country, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences may have created the Best International Feature Film category to encourage non-English movies, but it has inadvertently ended up giving a disadvantage to countries whose national language is English.
The implication is that the English bequeathed to us by the British, who colonised us, has become an albatross as far as the Oscars are concerned. The reality is that Nigeria’s key actors were trained in English and are more fluent in English than in the indigenous Nigerian languages. This is because the language of instruction in Nigerian schools up to the university is English. The language of communication during the one-year compulsory National Youth Service Corps scheme is English. To get a job in any corporate organisation, one has to speak and write English well. The language of communication at the National Assembly is English. When the President of Nigeria or a minister or an aide to the President wants to speak or write to Nigerians, the language must be in English. The Constitution of Nigeria is written in English, and English is used at the law courts to adjudicate cases. Vain nationalism may deceive some Nigerians to assume that English is a “foreign” language in Nigeria. As long as Nigeria remains one entity, it does not have a second national language. Only English is accepted as a national language. Other languages are local languages. If the President or any person addresses the nation in any of those languages, Nigerians would react angrily.
Interestingly, Nollywood started in 1992 with Living in Bondage, which was done in Igbo. It was not even originally subtitled in English. Only Igbo speakers enjoyed it. When it became popular, it was subtitled in English. Other subsequent films were done in Igbo. However, because of the need to appeal to a wider Nigerian audience, English was adopted as the medium of communication in Nigerian movies. Films done in Nigerian indigenous languages have continued to be produced. However, big Nigerian actors are usually seen in films produced in English, because those are the ones that attract the highest attention and audience.
No doubt, one can produce a film in any language and subtitle it in English, but it is not the same to experience a film in its original language and to experience its subtitled version. So much information is usually lost in translation.
It is sad that that a beautiful film like Lionheart has been denied the opportunity of winning an Oscar. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences still has to change the name of that category again to Best Non-English Feature Film. That will make it crystal clear to anyone that this category excludes all English films. Alternatively, it should be changed to Best Non-American Feature Film. It is ironic that while the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has used “language” as the reason to disqualify Lionheart, it has also used “language” to create sadness, disappointment and confusion among film lovers in the world by its wrong use of the word “international.
—Twitter @BrandAzuka
Guardian (NG)
END
Be the first to comment