The Nigerian Oscars Selection Committee (NOSC) has picked Genevieve Nnaji’s ‘Lionheart’ as the country’s submission to the international feature Film category of the 2020 Oscars.
The group made the selection on Wednesday, after a statutory vetting and subsequent voting of entries from Nigerian filmmakers in Nigeria and international.
Lionheart which tells the story of a young woman Adaeze Obiagu (Genevieve Nnaji) was shouldered the struggles of running her sick father’s business under the turbulent supervision of an uncle (Nkem Owoh), was released worldwide on January 4, 2019 after a December 2018 theatrical release in Nigeria. ‘Lionheart’, which is Nnaji’s directorial debut, tells the story of a young woman, Adaeze Obiagu (Genevieve Nnaji), who becomes saddled with the responsibility of running her sick father’s business under the suffocating supervision of an uncle, played by Nkem Owoh.
Since the inauguration of the NOSC in 2014, this is the first time Nigeria has started advancing a film to the Oscar, as previous entries received by the committee did not meet basic criteria. But this year, among the films received, ‘Lionheart’ produced by Chinny Onwugbenu, Chichi Nwoko and Genevieve Nnaji was picked for its considerable shots at the rules.
