Movies & TV
Desmond Ovbiagele’s ‘The Milkmaid’ is Nigeria’s Selection for 2021 Oscars
The Nigerian Oscars Selection Committee (NOSC) has selected Desmond Ovbiagele’s ‘The Milkmaid’ as Nigeria’s submission to the International Feature Film category of the 2021 Oscars. The 93rd edition of the Academy Awards is scheduled to hold on April 25, 2021.
According to ThisDay, the committee announced the selection on Tuesday, following a statutory vetting and subsequent voting of entries received from Nigerian filmmakers at home and abroad. Revealing it beat films like ‘Ibi’ (The Birth), ‘Voiceless‘, ‘Eyimofe‘, ‘Sanitation Day‘ and ‘Oloture in the final voting stage.
’The Milkmaid’ was produced by Desmond Ovbiagele, starring Maryam Booth, Anthonieta Kalunta, and Gambo Usman Kona, is a Hausa language-based thriller on insurgency especially as it affects women and children in Sub-Saharan Africa. The feature film follows a Fulani milkmaid, is searching for her younger sister, Zainab. Dire personal circumstances force her to approach the religious militants who were responsible for their separation in the first instance, but she is determined to find her despite the compromises she must make to do so. However, her quest to recapture her blithe past proves to be unexpectedly complicated in a world whose seething conflict provides several paths to becoming a victim with typically irreversible consequences.
The film is Ovbiagele’s sophomore, having written, produced and directed the award-winning “Render to Caesar” in 2014. “The Milkmaid’ was also nominated for the 2020 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) scoring eight nominations.
