Emmy-winning Filmmaker Kachi Benson’s ‘Mothers Of Chibok’ Goes to Cinema

Vanessa Obioha

‘Mothers of Chibok,’ the moving documentary film from Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Joel ‘Kachi’ Benson is heading to the cinemas. Starting February 27, FilmOne Entertainment will open the film in dozens of theatres throughout Nigeria and Ghana. It is Nigeria’s widest theatrical release for a locally produced documentary.

‘Mothers of Chibok’ follows a group of mothers as they farm their land to pay for their children’s education, despite threats from Boko Haram, who kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls from their village in 2014. The documentary is the second feature-length film from Joel ‘Kachi Benson.

Additionally, award-winning actor, producer, and educator Joke Silva is joining as Executive Producer.

“After watching, I realised that we don’t often think about these women,” says Silva. “We don’t understand what their journey has been. What Kachi has done with this film is amazing. By hearing their voices and seeing their routines, we the audience understand that the Chibok tragedy is about families, about education, about community.”For Silva, supporting the film makes it “harder for future generations to forget what happened to the girls and their families in 2014 and what continues to happen to them now.”

Victoria Ogar, Head of Distribution at FilmOne Entertainment, says “We’re thrilled to be bringing this powerful and hopeful documentary to audiences throughout Nigeria and Ghana. We believe there is a growing audience for documentary storytelling in West Africa, and we’re excited for them to discover Kachi’s beautiful film, which deserves to be seen in a theatrical environment.”

Benson adds, “We think we know the women of Chibok because we know their tragedy. But that tragedy is just one part of their story, the one the world is quick to see. One cannot know the mothers of Chibok until you truly know the depth of their strength and resilience.”

His aim is to use the film to show a side to these heroines that the world never sees: “women who have stood, and continue to stand as pillars in the Chibok community, comforting each other, upholding each other, and above all hoping and working together to make tomorrow better for their children.”

‘Mothers of Chibok’ premiered at DocNYC and has since screened at several dozen festivals around the world, including Encounters Film Festival in South Africa, where it won the Encounters Al Jazeera Award for Best African Feature-Length Documentary. In 2025, Kachi Benson made history as the first Nigerian to win a documentary Emmy for his first feature, Madu, which is streaming on Disney+.

Mothers of Chibok is produced by JB Multimedia Studios, Hunting Lane and Impact Partners in association with Shark Island Productions.