Daughters of Chibok to screen at Venice International Film Festival as Africa’s sole VR film entry

Daughters of Chibok, Joel Kachi Benson’s first Virtual Reality film is screening at the 76th Venice International Film Festival.

The film is a story of the April 2014’s abduction of 276 female students from Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria.

The film is representing Nigeria and Africa, alongside 12 other Virtual Reality (VR) films selected from France, China, Japan, Australia, United Kingdom, USA, Italy, Taiwan and Israel.

Daughters of Chibok synopsis: “In 2014 the sleepy agrarian community of Chibok (Borno State, North East Nigeria) was thrust into the global spotlight when the dreaded, anti-women education, terrorist group Boko Haram stormed the town at night and abducted 276 teenage schoolgirls from their dormitories. The world watched in shock and horror as videos of the girls, surrounded by machine gun-wielding terrorists, surfaced all over the internet and satellite channels across the globe. The VR deals with the aftermath of the kidnappings and explores topical global issues of gender rights and the right to education.”

Daughters of Chibok is the first-ever VR film on the infamous Chibok kidnappings and focuses on Yana Galang, a woman leader in Chibok, whose daughter was among the kidnapped Chibok girls. The film is a stark reminder that the traumatic kidnappings of April 2014 are still fresh and that there are still mothers waiting for their children to be returned. The 11-minute short film mirrors Galang’s pain as she hopefully awaits the return of her daughter while struggling to live a normal life as a peasant farmer.

Updating fans on the screening, Benson shared videos and photos of himself at the festival with other VR filmmakers on his Instagram page.

“Live in Venice at the #venicefilmfestival, where our VR documentary #daughtersofchibok is having a world premiere and representing Nigeria and Africa in the festival’s virtual reality category, Benson captions an image of him at the festival. He adds: “Feels great to be here…standing shoulder to shoulder with some of the best minds in Virtual Reality filmmaker from across the globe at the 2019 Venice Film Festival. We’re here…representing Naija and Africa.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1wJuVgF8YX/

In a prior post, Benson had explained the importance of screening the film, adding that the movie was being used to raise funds for the families affected by the Chibok kidnappings.

The post read: “From April 14 2014, when the Chibok girls were kidnapped, to date, 33 parents have died as a result of trauma caused by the loss of their children.

“Poverty is added to pain, as most of the mothers of the missing girls are farmers, who can barely scratch enough from the hard Chibok earth to survive and take care of their other children.

“On April 14 2019, to mark the 5th anniversary of the Chibok kidnappings, my team and I released our VR documentary #daughtersofchibok.

“Since then we have been sharing the film with select audiences, with the aim of raising support for the mothers of the missing Chibok girls.

“Last week, thanks to all our partners for their support and donations, we were able to make our first donations of fertilizer to 10 of the Chibok women, in order to help them increase their yield.

“Our goal is to reach all 112 mothers who are still waiting for the return of their daughters, and we won’t stop till we touch each and every one of them.

“We may not be able to bring back their daughters, but we can certainly do something to make their hard lives just a little bit easier,” Benson said.

In 2018, Benson made his first Virtual Reality film, In Bakassi, a short film that captures the plight of children living with PTSD in Internally Displaced Persons Camps in the northeast region.