Some of Nigeria’s leading actors including Omawunmi Megbele, Waje, Shawn Faqua, Seun Ajayi, Rita Edwards among others have featured in a new film titled ‘Anave’.

An initiative of fast-rising Nollywood producer, Nicolette Ndigwe, the film was jointly produced by Maternal Mortality Eradication (MACMME) project and Sterling Bank Plc to create awareness about Nigeria’s high infant-maternal mortality rates.

“It is an advocacy film,’’ said Ms Ndigwe during a press briefing in Lagos which had in attendance the Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman and a former Minister of Information and Communications, Frank Nweke Jnr., both of whom are co-executive producers on the film project.

“ANAVE tells the story of an eight-year-old boy whose mother dies from malaria complications at childbirth, leaving him at the mercy of an orphanage. He ends up on the street in a quest for an education where he faces the struggles of the vulnerable, poor and homeless.’’

“The project’s overall strategic focus takes cognisance of the five United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and recognising the potential of film in impacting the minds of people, ANAVE became the best tool to pass this message,’’ Ms Ndigwe said.

The MACMME project, she said, seeks to reduce the gruesome rates of maternal and child mortality attributable to preventable causes such as malaria, homelessness, hunger and opportunistic diseases in Nigeria.

She said the dream which was born out of the need to ensure that no life was lost to anything that as a people, their resources could be brought together to fix or stop, was fueled by the statistics which showed that malaria is responsible for the death of an average of 300,000 children and 11 percent of all maternal deaths each year in Nigeria.

The producer also added that the film would be screened to larger audiences across Nigeria at a later date.