Oscars Confirms Eligibility of ‘The Milkmaid’

By Vanessa Obioha

Finally, Nigeria will be able to compete in the international Academy Awards popularly known as the Oscars. The Executive Committee for the International Feature Film (IFF) category of the Oscars has confirmed the eligibility of Nigeria’s official submission, ‘The Milkmaid’, among other contenders for the 93rd Academy Awards.

The Academy officially released a list of eligible films from 93 countries in the IFF category on Thursday.

The Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) had submitted “The Milkmaid” to the Academy in December 2020. The film is the second attempt by the body to participate in the Oscars. The country’s first submission in 2019 ‘Lionheart’ was disqualified on the basis of language defect. The ‘Milkmaid’ has now officially become the first Nigerian film to go to the Oscars. Another shortlist is expected to be released in March, ahead of the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony on April 25, 2021.

“It is heart-warming that the decision of the NOSC has been ratified by the Executive Committee of the IFF”, said NOSC Chairperson Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi, noting that “the feat underscores our strict adherence to the rules of the biggest film awards scheme in the world.”

“Having sailed through the eligibility stage in the IFF’s selection process, there is no looking back for us at the NOSC. I commend the great effort of every member of the committee. This is a job well done. And while we wish ‘The Milkmaid’ and indeed our country further success in the remaining journey towards the 93rd Academy Awards in April, we look further into the years ahead with greater determination to continue to play on this global stage. If we have done anything to get Nigeria to the present feat, rest assured that the NOSC will do even more in the coming years of the Oscars,” she added delightfully.

Written, produced and directed by Desmond Ovbiagele, ‘The Milkmaid’ is an Hausa language-based thriller on insurgency, especially as it affects women and children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Inspired by the image on Nigeria’s 10 Naira note, the film tells the story of a Fulani milkmaid who confronts extremists in a rural African community, in a quest to locate her missing sister, and how efforts to recapture her disrupted past prove complicated.