EXCLUSIVE: Joel ‘Kachi Benson (Madu) has been tapped to direct the documentary The Harvest, on Nigeria’s infamous Boko Haram kidnappings of 2014, for Hunting Lane and Impact Partners. A first-look still can be found above.
Following four Nigerian mothers as they fight to educate their children in the wake of tragedy, the film marks the 10th anniversary of terrorist organization Boko Haram’s attack and abduction of 276 young girls from a school in the village of Chibok.
Joel ‘Kachi Benson
Hans Wilschut
Nigerian filmmaker Benson came to helm the film after tackling the aftermath of the attacks with previous work including 2019’s Daughters of Chibok, a VR experience he wrote and produced which won the Lion for Best Immersive Story at the 76th Venice Film Festival.
“I have spent the last five years with the mothers and survivors of the Chibok kidnappings,” the filmmaker told Deadline. “I’ve listened to their stories, and what I’ve learnt is that these women are more than the tragedy that is mostly used to describe them. My aim with The Harvest is to give them a platform to tell their own story and show a side to these heroines that the world hardly sees: a community of mothers who have stood, and continue to stand as pillars, working together to make tomorrow better for their children. That is the ultimate bravery.”
Recently wrapping production, The Harvest is produced by Jamie Patricof, Katie McNeill, Rachel Halilej, Samira Mohammed, and Adeyinka Oduniyi. Pic is presented by Impact Partners in association with Shark Island Productions and JB Multimedia Studios. Exec producers include Ian Darling, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Jenny Raskin, Adam & Melony Lewis, Debbie L. Mcleod, Meadow Fund, Joshua Roth, Jim & Susan Swartz. Co-executive producers include Marni E. J. Grossman, Lauren Haber, Kelsey Koenig, Ann W. Lovell, Jennifer Pelling, Christine Woodhouse and Seth Woodhouse.
“We were honored to be able to work with ‘Kachi on this powerful film,” stated Patricof of Hunting Lane. “What the women in this film accomplish is nothing short of miraculous. They are real life superheroes.”
Named one of New African Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential Africans in 2019, Benson most recently co-directed Madu, a documentary on Nigerian viral ballet sensation Anthony Madu, which premiered on Disney+.
Previously collaborating with Benson on Madu, Patricof’s Hunting Lane is known for producing films like Captain Fantastic, Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines, among many other projects for film and TV. Most recently, the company produced painter Titus Kaphar’s drama Exhibiting Forgiveness, starring André Holland, Andra Day, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and John Earl Jelks, which world premiered at Sundance 2024.
Over the span of 14 years, Impact Partners has been involved in financing over 100 films, including such award-nominated and winning works as Icarus, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Dina, The Eagle Huntress, How to Survive a Plague, The Queen of Versailles, and Hell and Back Again. Upcoming projects include Matthew O. Henderson’s Zulu Club doc A King Like Me, base jumping pic Fly, Paris Barclay’s Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It, and Clay Tweel’s The Bitter Pill, to name just a few.