Industry insiders say there is a growing trend for Nigerian films that take on controversial topics in current affairs

It's a tried and tested formula for smash-hit Hollywood cinema: terrorists plotting mass destruction only to be foiled by a mixture of fate and law enforcement – with a good love story thrown in to boot.

Now Nollywood, Nigeria's burgeoning film industry, has got in on the action, making the country's Islamic extremist sect the subject of a new release, Boko Haram – the movie.

The film follows the story of a young man who comes to Lagos with a secret mission to detonate a bomb that will kill 2,500 people. But in an unlikely twist he meets a prostitute who prompts a rethink.

"It's a film about a terrorist who finds love and has to challenge everything he has been taught," said Pascal Amanfo, who wrote and directed the film. "We wanted to...