It is time for Hollywood to relinquish ownership of the English language

The Academy may imagine it is natural for Americans and British to own the English language. Eventually, however, demography and globalization will render that position untenable

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences -- you know, the guys who hand out the Oscars -- have decided to disqualify Nigeria’s first-ever official entry for the international feature film category. “Lionheart,” from Nigerian actress-director Genevieve Nnaji, was rejected because, according to the Academy, the film “includes only 11 minutes of non-English dialogue.” 

The decision is in accordance with the rules, which require that foreign films be predominantly in languages other than English. But it has exposed the Academy’s quite comically America-centric view of the world, which is increasingly tone-deaf.

Surely the point of recognizing international feature films