Kachi Joel Benson

About speaker

Kachi Joel Benson is a Nigerian documentary filmmaker, virtual reality content creator and the Creative Director of virtual reality film studios VR360 Stories in Lagos, Nigeria. He is passionate about stories and has been making documentaries for over a decade; in 2018, Kachi was introduced to the world of Virtual Reality, and became the first Nigerian filmmaker to use Virtual Reality technology for storytelling, when he produced “In Bakassi”, a virtual experience of life in one of the largest IDP Camps in Northeast Nigeria.

In April 2019, ‘Kachi Benson produced his second VR film, “Daughters of Chibok”, a film that takes viewers into the heart of one of the unsolved mysteries of in Nigeria’s war against insurgency. At the 2019 Venice International Film Festival, it won the Venice Lion award becoming the first African to win the prestigious prize in the Virtual Reality category.

‘Kachi Benson has received formal and informal film training from the Central Film School London, Legacy Media Institute, Virginia USA; National Film; Television School, Beaconsfield UK, and StillMotion in Portland, USA; and his films, both 2d and VR, have featured in many prestigious locations and festivals, including Berlin Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, HotDos International Film Festival, British Film Institute, and the Phi Centre.

In December 2019, Joel ‘Kachi Benson was named among the New African Magazine’s 2019 Top 100 Most Influential Africans. In February 2020, “Daughters of Chibok”, was listed on the Forbes Top 50 XR Experiences of 2019.