MOTHERS OF CHIBOK (Joel 'Kachi Benson 2024)

[Chris Knipp]

JOEL KACHI BENSON: MOTHERS OF CHIBOK (2024) DOC NYC

Hope springs from the Nigerian abductions

Following four Nigerian mothers as they fight to educate their children in the wake of tragedy and support themselves as farmers, this vibrant new film marks the 10th anniversary of terrorist Boko Haram's 2014 attack and abduction to Boko Haram's stronghold in Sambisa Forest of 276 young girls from state school dormitories in the village of Chibok. Over 100 were eventually returned and several more managed to escape.

A 2018 film, Gemma Atwal's Stolen Daughters: Kidnapped by Boko Haram delas with what has become of girls (and some boys) who returned after captivity, and their various various ways of coping. There is a review by Jennie Kermode. Joel Kachi Benson is concerned with the mothers whose daughters remain lost.

An April 11, 2024 Guardian article by Caroline Kimeu in Nairobi and Ope Adetayo in Lagos helps explain details of this complicated story. For example, in 2020 300 boys were abducted in Katsina State (northwestern Nigeria), and many of the remaining 100 girls may have been converted and married and would be irrecoverable. For those who have returned, their life and status are complicated and rumors surround them. Many more boys and girls have been kidnapped by armed groups for sale or ransom in a Nigeria whose security is in chaos, and the situation is ongoing. International interest in this crisis peaked with the drama of the Chibok abductions, but has waned in the decade since. The AP has a timeline of abductions. In early march of this year 287 students at the government secondary school in the Kaduna State town of Kuriga were abducted. 300 abducted in early 2021 where released the following month.

Joel Kachi Benson is a NIgerian filmmaker and virtual reality specialist who trained in Britain and the US. His 110minute fllm Daughters of Chibok in 2018 won Best VR Film at the Venice festival. In it we meet Yana Galang, whose daughter Rifkatu is one of the 112 girls abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 who remain missing. Yana is a poor farmer and a pious single mother of a young boy. We see her pray with other farmers, plant seeds, bargain for fertilizer though she has no money to pay for it now, and welcome a long-awaited rain. The three other mothers the film focuses on are Ladi Lawan Zanna, Maryam Ali Maiyanga, and Lydia Yanna.

In an interview Kachi Benson explains that he wants to use film for social change. After his VR film was a success at Venice he brought Yana to New York and she met with UN officials to plead for help for other mothers of abducted children like her. The new 87-minuted film provides information the filmmaker has gathered in the six years since Daughters of Chibok to include four women whose daughters remain missing since the 2014 Boka Haram abductions. This time he is interested in fostering the independence of the women from exploitative middle men by producing and selling their own roasted groundnuts directly.

The new feature film is a sequel to the VR prize-winner. I particularly liked how simple and focused this film is, and how delicately sparing it is in its use of music. It's not always clear that the women and children in the film are not acting for the camera, but so what? Kachi and his cameramen have wonderful access. The editing by Dorrit Anderson and Charlotte Munch Bengtsen is seamless.

In the buoyant last 25 minutes, the energy grows. There is a highly emotional session - by firelight - of women with daughters who have been returned to them and others who remain bereaved. Then there are visits to schools, with weeping and fights from young Ali, the new student at boarding school, but other students bright and cheerful in their fresh new clothes. The film ends in a sprit of hopefulness toward new beginnings. Joel Kachi Benson is quite an impressive talent. What he touches turns to gold.

Mothers of Chhibok, 88 mins., debuts Nov. 16, 2024 at DOC NYC. DOC NYC Screenings:
Saturday, November 16th – 5:15PM – Village East by Angelika - WORLD PREMIERE
Wednesday, November 20th – 1:45PM – Village East by Angelika - Public Screening #2