THE GRINDING
MACHINE.
A gifted 13-year-old girl in Northern Nigeria fights to pursue an education while feeding her family.
STATUS
TARGET
Q2 2027
A childhood caught
between duty and dreams.
In a rural Northern Nigerian village, Zainab, a gifted 13-year-old girl, begins each morning before dawn grinding grain for her family. By the time the school bell rings, she is already racing against a clock that was never designed for a child like her.
Torn between the demands of survival and her determination to learn, Zainab must find a way to hold on to her education without abandoning the family that depends on her.
The Grinding Machine is a character-driven narrative short about childhood, invisible labour and the quiet courage it takes to imagine a different future. Rooted in the textures and rhythms of rural Northern Nigeria, the film explores the cost of a dream when survival comes first.
From an idea to a film.
CONCEPT
01
DEVELOPMENT
02
PRE-PRODUCTION
03
PRODUCTION
04
POST-PRODUCTION
05
RELEASE
06
Finding
Zainab’s world.
The film is currently in development, with a focus on building a truthful, emotionally grounded story around Zainab’s daily life, her family responsibilities and her determination to go to school.
The process involves refining the screenplay, researching the realities of rural life, developing the characters and identifying locations, performers and visual references. The goal is to tell a deeply local story with a universal emotional resonance, without losing the authenticity of the world it represents.
TARGET
Q2 2027
The world
before the story.
Exploring the people, places, textures and everyday rhythms that will shape The Grinding Machine.
Every story begins
with paying attention.
Follow the making of The Grinding Machine, from screenplay development and cultural research to location scouting, casting, cinematography and production. The journal will document the creative decisions behind the film and the process of bringing Zainab’s story to the screen.
A dream
worth fighting for.
A Northern Nigerian story about a girl, a grinding stone and the future she refuses to give up on.