Filmmaker Chinazaekpere Chukwu is set to make her feature directorial debut at Film Africa 2026 in London. Her film, Her Daughters’ Mother, has been officially selected for the festival and will screen on October 28 at EbonyLife Place London, the recently launched venue.
The 110 minute drama centres on womanhood, sacrifice and the bond between mothers and daughters. It is set in Benin and was shot earlier this year in English, Pidgin, Urhobo and Bini. Chukwu describes the tone as a blend of Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood and Ayobami Adebayo’s Stay With Me, with a focus on how women’s lives are often decided for them, first by their families and spouses and later by their children.
The story follows Ejiro, a 33 year old woman played by Ejovwoke Obas Olikuntuyi. Ejiro was married off at 16 and returns home as a widowed mother of two daughters. With few options, she enters a second marriage to Osato, a lorry driver played by Philip Asaya, who promises security and an education for her girls in exchange for a male heir. When she cannot meet his demand, his sense of entitlement turns her life into a struggle, and she longs for the freedom she last felt as a child.
Her eldest daughter, 16 year old Ejaita, played by Osas Okonyon, dreams of becoming a doctor and pushes against her mother’s overprotectiveness, unaware of how much her mother is sacrificing for her. The cast also includes Najite Dede and Adeoluwa Akintoba.
Chukwu wrote the screenplay with Sunday Melvin Iwinosa, from a story by Efosa Ogbomo, who also serves as executive producer and co producer. Yinka Adegoke is the cinematographer, and Joshua Tsotso is story consultant and editor. The film is produced by One Child Grace Studio in association with C.A.N.O Productions, Uncut Gem Productions and Nka Pictures.
The feature follows a strong run for Chukwu at the EbonyLife Creative Academy, where she graduated as Best Director for A Psalm for Abigail. Her short film Ti e Nbo also screened in the Shorts category at AFRIFF in 2023.
The film’s central story, a girl married off at 16, arrives days after International Day of the Girl Child, which was marked on October 11 under the theme of ending child marriage and investing in girls’ rights.
