Genevieve Nnaji's Directorial Debut 'Lionheart' Becomes Nigeria's First Ever Entry into the Oscars

Last year, Nigeria's veteran actress, Genevieve Nnaji, made her first ever movie as a director. The movie 'Lionheart' in which she also starred alongside veteran actors Nkem Owoh, Pete Edochie and Onyeka Onwenu was acquured by Netflix and became the first ever Netflix original film to come out of Nigeria.

The movie was produced by Chinny Onwugbenu, and premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was then released worldwide in January, 2019 on Netflix.

Nkem Owoh and Genevieve Nnaji in Lionheart

Now, the film has been submitted to the Oscars in the "Best International Feature Film" category - Nigeria's first ever entry to the Oscar's - for the 92nd Academy Awards. This is a remarkable feat in the Nigerian movie industry. Although the country set up the Nigerian Oscars Selection Committee back in 2014, the committee has reportedly not been able to find a film meeting the selection criteria until now.

Lionheart stars Genevieve in the lead role as Adaeze, and tells the story of a young lady who steps up to the challenge of running the family business which was concentrated in the south east of Nigeria when her dad developed some health issues and handed the business over to her Uncle (Nkem Owoh) whom he had also instructed so supervise and mentor her. Working alongside her uncle, she struggles to save the business from financial ruin, and strikes a major deal with another family-run business which had dominance in the northern part of Nigeria.

Upon its release, the movie created a strong media buzz and was widely celebrated. Nollywood is considered the second biggest movie industry in the world, producing about 50 films every week.