A Nigerian filmmaker, Desmond Ovbiagele, has revealed the inspiration behind his movie, The Milkmaid, which is a contender for the upcoming 2021 Oscars International Films Category.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science will announce its nominations for the Academy Awards on March 15 in Los Angeles.

The Milkmaid tells the story of two sisters abducted from their village during the insurgency in Northeast Nigeria.

Nigeria submitted it as its entry for international feature consideration at the upcoming Academy Awards.

Mr. Ovbiagele said the movie was inspired by the two iconic figures at the N10 note’s back.

“The screenplay was inspired by the two iconic figures at the back of the 10 Naira note; those are the Fulani milkmaids who were carrying their calabashes.

“So I sought to imagine what would happen if the two characters were caught up in an insurgency situation. How would their lives play out and how would they adjust to the new way of life that would be imposed on them.

“In the process, we did extensive research on the world that these characters were living in and then tried to arrive at a narrative that was authentic to all the operators in that setting,” he said.

On the choice of language used in the movie, Mr. Ovbiagele said, “One could have chosen the easier decision to shoot the film in the English language. But because we were striving for authenticity, we didn’t think it would be authentic enough for people in that rural area to speak Queens English.

“What they would normally speak would be Hausa, and the Fulanis would speak Fulfude. This is how we arrived at the language used in the film.”

The former investment banker-turned-movie producer said he was overwhelmed by the movie’s nomination for the Oscars, adding that it was an accolade to reward the cast and crew’s efforts.

He noted, “My feelings were that of overwhelming, gratitude. Obviously, I was grateful that our film was selected out of a number of other high-quality films to represent Nigeria at the 93rd Oscars.”

NAN