The highly acclaimed Ghanaian movie ‘Azali’ has failed to secure a slot on the shortlisted films that would be considered for a 2020 Oscars nomination.
Ghana’s first ever entry was submitted in the Best International Feature Film category for the 92nd Academy Awards.
The movie produced by Kwabena Gyansah tells the tale of a teenage girl’s escape from an arranged marriage to a 70-year-old farmer in Ghana.
Amina escapes her impending marriage to a 70-year-old farmer but finds herself on a truck being trafficked to Burkina Faso.
A cruel twist of fate sees her rescued from the truck but flung into the bustling city of Accra. Amina has to choose between surviving in Accra and returning to her village for marriage.
‘Azali’ was written by Gwandellen Quartey and directed by Kwabena Gyansah.
Ananse Entertainment handled production with support from Motion Revolution, which are both Ghanaian companies.
The entry by producers of ‘Azali’ was the first time Ghana submitted a film to the Oscars.
Professor Linus Abraham, chair of Ghana’s Oscar selection committee, said: “Azali is a consciousness-raising film [and] we are very honoured that for the first time, Ghana has found a film worthy enough to represent it at the 92nd Oscars. This has been a long time coming and it is a testament to the growth of the Ghana film industry. We believe this will enhance the image of Ghanaian films and encourage more co-productions and quality filmmaking.”
For the Best International Feature Film category, 91 films were considered including ‘Azali’.
Genevieve Nnaji’s ‘Lionheart’, failed to make the eligibility cut and therefore was not part of the 91 films that were considered.
In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt-in to participate and must view all 10 shortlisted films in order to cast a ballot.
Check out the 10 shortlisted films listed in alphabetical order by country below:
Czech Republic, “The Painted Bird”
Estonia, “Truth and Justice”
France, “Les Misérables”
Hungary, “Those Who Remained”
North Macedonia, “Honeyland”
Poland, “Corpus Christi”
Russia, “Beanpole”
Senegal, “Atlantics”
South Korea, “Parasite”
Spain, “Pain and Glory”
