{"id":231665,"date":"2025-07-02T09:29:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T09:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abianewscentral.com.ng\/my-friends-thought-i-was-half-crazy-when-i-started-making-documentaries-says-kachi-benson\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T09:29:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T09:29:22","slug":"my-friends-thought-i-was-half-crazy-when-i-started-making-documentaries-says-kachi-benson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/my-friends-thought-i-was-half-crazy-when-i-started-making-documentaries-says-kachi-benson\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018My Friends Thought I Was Half Crazy When I Started Making Documentaries,\u2019 Says Kachi Benson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018My Friends Thought I Was Half Crazy When I Started Making Documentaries,\u2019 Says Kachi Benson
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\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nigerian documentary filmmaker Joel Kachi Benson has revealed that his decision to pursue a career in nonfiction storytelling was once met with scepticism, even from friends, before his recent global recognition.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when I first said I wanted to make documentaries, my friends thought I was half crazy. They were like, \u2018What does that even mean?\u2019 \u2018What\u2019s the model behind that?\u2019 I couldn\u2019t really explain it \u2014 I just knew I loved nonfiction, real stories, and unscripted TV.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love these real stories and I felt happy doing them. So I was like, Look, man, I\u2019m just happy doing this. So I\u2019m going to do it. And years later, we\u2019re telling the kind of stories that we want to tell, how we want to tell them and putting them on these, you know, platforms,\u201d Benson said in an interview with Channels Television Entertainment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2025, Benson made history as the first Nigerian to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards in New York City.<\/p>\n

The winning film, Madu, co-directed with Oscar-nominated Matt Ogens, tells the inspiring story of Nigerian ballet dancer Anthony Madu.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see myself in Anthony. Pursuing a dream that is seemingly unachievable, but you put your heart to it and, you know, let time and chance and all of that take care of the rest,\u201d Benson said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Nigerian Stories Matter\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Disney Original Documentary Madu was honoured at the ceremony held at the Palladium Times Square, where it also received a nomination for Outstanding Direction (Documentary).<\/p>\n

It shone in the arts and culture category, beating entries such as As We Speak: Rap Music on Trial, Butterfly in the Sky, Hollywood Black, and King Coal (POV).<\/p>\n

The 44-second viral video that inspired the film showed Anthony, then aged 11, dancing barefoot in the rain in Lagos. It garnered over 16 million views online, leading to a scholarship offer from the Elmhurst Ballet School in the UK.<\/p>\n

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