Nollywood icon Joke Silva and filmmaker Joel Kachi Benson are teaming up to release ‘Mothers of Chibok,’ a feature-length documentary that shifts the focus from the abducted girls to the women who continue to fight for them.

In April 2014, the world watched as Boko Haram insurgents stormed the Government Girls’ Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state, kidnapping 276 students.

The mass abduction sparked global outrage and the viral #BringBackOurGirls movement. Yet, a decade later, while some of the girls have been rescued or freed, many remain missing.

‘Mothers of Chibok’ does not revisit the trauma of the abduction itself. Instead, it travels to the heart of the community left behind, chronicling the lives of the victims’ mothers.

The documentary captures their extraordinary daily reality: tilling their farms and working the land under the constant threat of terrorist violence, all to raise money for the education of their remaining children. It’s a testament to a quiet, unyielding resilience in the face of unimaginable grief.

Silva, serving as an executive producer alongside Benson, explained her deep connection to the project.

“After watching, I realised that we don’t often think about these women. We don’t understand what their journey has been,” she said.

“What Kachi has done with this film is amazing. I couldn’t be more thrilled to support a filmmaker like Kachi, whose record of the endurance, resistance and resilience of the Mothers Of Chibok will make 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.”

For Benson, who also produces, the documentary is the second part of a powerful diptych exploring the Chibok tragedy.

In 2019, he released the groundbreaking virtual reality film ‘Daughters of Chibok,’ which premiered at the 76th Venice International Film Festival.

With the new documentary, he delves deeper into the enduring consequences of that day.

“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,” he said. 

The film has already garnered international acclaim, having premiered at DOCNYC and screened at over 50 festivals worldwide.

It recently won the Encounters Al Jazeera ‘Best African Feature-Length Documentary’ award at South Africa’s Encounters Film Festival.

The project builds on Benson’s historic achievement in 2025, when he became the first Nigerian to win a documentary Emmy for his first feature film ‘Madu’.

Produced by JB Multimedia Studios, Hunting Lane, and Impact Partners, in association with Shark Island Productions, ‘Mothers of Chibok’ boasts a robust team of producers and executive producers.

The producing team includes Jamie Patricof, Rachel Halilej, Katie McNeill, Samira Mohammad, and Adeyinka Oduniyi. Silva is joined by a host of executive producers, including Ian Darling, Adam & Melony Lewis, Geralyn White Dreyfous, and many others.

Nigerian and Ghanaian audiences will finally get to watch ‘Mothers of Chibok’ when it premieres in cinemas on February 27,

Victoria Ogar, FilmOne’s head of distribution, expressed her enthusiasm for the project’s theatrical release.

 “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,”Ogar said.

Watch the trailer below: