My Role in ‘The Milkmaid’ Was a Tough Decision- Anthonieta Kalunta

Nigerian actress, Anthonieta Kalunta, who made her acting debut in the compelling film, The Milkmaid has said that choosing the movie over going for The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was a tough decision.

The actress who played the lead role of “Aisha” alongside Maryam Booth in the film spoke in a recent chat with The Cable. Kalunta disclosed that looking back now, she doesn’t regret taking that the decision.

“They asked us to come on set the same day NYSC asked us to resume on camp,” she revealed. It was a tough decision because NYSC posted me to Abuja, which l always craved then. A lot of people were telling me to go for service but I was really interested in the story, so l made up my mind to go for the movie and do NYSC later.”

The Abia state native also detailed the audition process and how she got the exciting role.

“There was obvious competition. You don’t know who is who and you’re not sure because they could simply pick anybody. I was paired with one young man for the audition. He played the husband while I played the wife role. So, we went in and did our performance and that was it.

“They told us that they would get back to us after that which is normal with every audition. You just have to be hopeful. After the audition, l didn’t go back home (Zaria) directly, I went to Kano. But when l was about to leave for Zaria, the director called me and said they’d want me to play the lead role as Aisha in ‘The Milkmaid’ and asked if l could do it. l was really excited.”

The Milkmaid produced by Desmond Ovbiagele is a sensitive, emotional and eye wateringly Hausa language-based thriller on insurgency.

In rural sub-Saharan Africa, Aisha, (Anthonieta Kalunta) a Fulani milkmaid, searches for her lost younger sister, Zainab (Maryam Booth). Dire personal circumstances forces her to approach the religious militants who were responsible for their separation in the first instance.

Meanwhile hope for a Nigerian film to win an Oscar was dashed last month after the film, which was submitted to the Academy failed to make the shortlist in the International Feature Film category.