Nigerian film about Islamist insurgency aims at Oscar glory

By Angela Ukomadu and Abraham Achirga
LAGOS/ABUJA, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Ten years ago, Desmond
Ovbiagele abandoned his career in investment banking to pursue
his dream of making films. Now the Nigerian director's movie
about the jihadist insurgency in his country has been put
forward as an Oscars contender.
"The Milkmaid" tells the story of two sisters who are
abducted from their village during a deadly attack by militants
in northeast Nigeria. It has been submitted by Nigeria as its
entry for international feature consideration at the Academy
Awards.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will
announce its nominations for the Academy Awards on March 15.
"Even having made it this far is a huge encouragement to
filmmakers who don't necessarily want to tell the most
commercial type of stories," Ovbiagele - who wrote and directed
the film - told Reuters in an interview in Nigeria's commercial
capital, Lagos.
The insurgency by militant group Boko Haram has killed more
than 30,000 people and forced about 2 million to flee their
homes since 2009. The group attained global notoriety in 2014
with the abduction of more than 270 schoolgirls in the
northeastern town of Chibok.
"I felt it was important that we put some backstories and
some personalities behind all these casualty statistics," said
Ovbiagele.
The film has already won five Africa Movie Academy Awards,
including Best Film. Although Nigeria is an English-speaking
country, it is eligible for the Oscars best international film
category because the characters address each other in the Hausa,
Arabic and Fulfulde languages spoken locally.
Anthonieta Kalunta, lead actress in the movie, said she
hoped those judging "The Milkmaid" would see the film as being
told from "a very beautiful perspective", despite the subject
matter.
For Ovbiagele, the film's success will draw attention to the
plight of hidden victims.
"The victims of insurgency were not getting the attention
that I felt they truly deserved," he said.