Daughters of Chibok, a virtual reality documentary of life in Chibok without the remaining 112 kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, has won an award in the United States, courtesy of the Venice Film Festival.
The film, produced jointly by a film making firm, VR360 Stories, and a Yola-based regional nongovernmental organisation, the Northeast Humanitarian Hub, portrays life in Chibok through the home of a mother, Yana, who regularly washes the clothes of her kidnapped daughter in the wishful expectation of the return of the daughter.
The virtual reality mode of Daughters of Chibok differentiates it from the more widely known regular documentary productions in the sense of its capacity to virtually take the viewer from wherever he is to the depicted scenes which he sees as vividly as if he were there.
The film had been shown at different times to different audiences earlier this year in Nigerian cities, including Yola where it was shown in August to journalists and civil society leaders.
Daughters of Chibok portrays the misery of life in Chibok without the missing girls and appeals to the sensibilities of relevant authorities on the need to bring the girls back.
The Chief Executive of VR360 Stories and producer of the film, Joel Benson, who received the Venice Film Festival award in the US on Saturday night, said in a video clip on the event, that he dedicated the award to the woman in the story, Yana.
He said it was a deserving honour to her for sharing her story with him, and that because of the award, “the world will hear of Chibok and remember the girls still in captivity.”
