Lionheart (2018 film)

Lionheart
Directed byGenevieve Nnaji
Written by
Genevieve Nnaji
Produced byChinny Onwugbenu
Starring
CinematographyYinka Edward
Edited byGeorge Cragg
Music byKulanen Ikyo
Production
company
The Entertainment Network (T.E.N)
Distributed byNetflix
MPM Premium
Release dates
Running time
95 minutes
CountryNigeria
Languages
Box office₦21.3m[1]

Lionheart is a 2018 Nigerian drama film produced by Chinny Onwugbenu and directed by Genevieve Nnaji. It stars Pete Edochie, Genevieve Nnaji, and Nkem Owoh. It was acquired by Netflix on 7 September 2018,[2] making it the first Netflix original film produced in Nigeria.[3] Lionheart premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival in Canada.[4] The movie was Nnaji's directorial debut[5] as well as Peter Okoye's and Chibuzor Azubuike's (also known as Phyno) acting debut.[6] The film was released worldwide on 4 January 2019 on Netflix.[7]

Lionheart was selected as the Nigerian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.[8] It was the first time that Nigeria had submitted a film to the Oscars.[9] On 4 November 2019, the Academy disqualified the film as the majority of the dialogue is in English[10] and only about ten minutes of the film is in Igbo.[11]

  1. ^ "Lionheart Box Office". Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  2. ^ Augoye, Jayne (12 September 2018). "Netflix acquires Genevieve's 'Lion Heart'". Premium Times. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  3. ^ Akinyoade, Akinwale (12 September 2018). "Watch: Genevieve Nnaji Talks About Her New Movie "Lion Heart"". Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  4. ^ "TIFF Calendar".
  5. ^ Bamas, Victoria (23 August 2018). "Genevieve Nnaji's directorial debut "Lion Heart" to premiere in Toronto". Daily Trust. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  6. ^ Reporter (1 September 2018). "Peter Okoye makes acting debut in Lionheart". The Nation. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Release1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Agbro, Joe Jr. (2 October 2019). "Genevieve Nnaji's Lionheart is Nigeria's submission for the Oscar". The Nation. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  9. ^ "Genevieve Nnaji's Lionheart becomes Nigeria's first-ever Oscar entry". The Cable Lifestyle. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  10. ^ "Lionheart: Nigeria's Oscar choice disqualified over English dialogue". BBC News. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  11. ^ Whitten, Sarah (5 November 2019). "Nigeria's 'Lionheart' disqualified for international film Oscar over predominantly English dialogue — but Nigeria's official language is English". CNBC. Retrieved 6 November 2019.