A wedding in a rural Fulani community is interrupted by gunmen. Two sisters are taken. One escapes; the other disappears into the world of an extremist group. The Milkmaid, released in 2020, follows the surviving sister’s dangerous search, and it brought one of Nigeria’s most painful recent stories to the screen with unusual seriousness. It also became the country’s second-ever submission for the Oscars.
The story, director and language
Aisha, played by Anthonieta Kalunta, is a young milkmaid whose village is attacked by insurgents. She sets out to find her sister Zainab, played by Maryam Booth, and enters the territory of the militants who took her. Desmond Ovbiagele wrote, produced and directed the film. He had earlier made Render to Caesar, and spent years developing The Milkmaid.
Most of the film is in Hausa, which made it eligible for the Best International Feature category at the Oscars.
The Oscar entry and censorship
The Milkmaid was selected as Nigeria’s submission for the 2021 Academy Awards. Nigeria’s first submission, Lionheart, had been disqualified in 2019 because most of its dialogue was in English. Ovbiagele said the film faced cuts from Nigeria’s censors before its local release, which he publicly criticised. The film deals with abduction, forced marriage, radicalisation and survival, themes drawn from real events in north-east Nigeria.
Critics praised its performances and its sober portrayal of a difficult subject, and it won awards at African film ceremonies. Maryam Booth, known from Kannywood, the Hausa film industry, gave one of the film’s most praised performances. The film was shot in northern Nigeria, with attention to the customs and dress of Fulani communities.
Its place in Nigerian cinema
The film showed that Nigerian filmmakers could tackle political and humanitarian subjects for international audiences. After festival screenings and a cinema release, the film became available on streaming platforms. The insurgency in north-east Nigeria has displaced millions of people and led to the abduction of thousands, including the Chibok schoolgirls in 2014. Few Nigerian films had treated these events with such care before The Milkmaid.
The film won several prizes at the Africa Movie Academy Awards. The Milkmaid did not win an Oscar. It did something rarer for Nigerian cinema, telling the story of the insurgency’s victims in their own language and refusing to look away.
