Nelson Mandela: The Myth & Me

There are protests everywhere, people demand change everywhere, people demand freedom, real freedom everywhere. To Khalo Matabane, today’s South Africa can be described as a time bomb, ready to explode any minute.

Year

2013

Length

85 min

Director

Khalo Matabane

Nelson Mandela’s message of freedom, forgiveness and reconciliation still inspires people worldwide. 30 years ago, in 1994, he became the first president of a democratic South Africa – a historical step, the end of Apartheid. Alike many other young South Africans, director Khalo Matabane considered Nelson Mandela his childhood hero. Strong and determined to fight the enemy, that is how Matabane imagined him. At that time, Mandela was still imprisoned. Once he was released and became a respected political actor, Matabane was surprised and maybe a little disappointed by Mandela’s attitude. Where was the anger? Instead of revenge, Mandela asks forgiveness – even for the perpetrators of the apartheid regime. In a personal letter to Nelson Mandela, Khalo Matabane confronts his childhood hero with some important questions, which he has been asking himself for many years.

Credits

Written & Directed By
Khalo Matabane

Produced by
Carolyn Carew

Co-Producers
Christian Beetz
Kerstin Meyer-Beetz

Director of Photography
Giulio Biccari
Mike Downie
Nicolaas Hofmeyr
Dirk Nel
Alex Cullen
Benoit Rambourg
Kiran Reddy Katpalli
Jimmy Gimferrer
Abraham Haile
Bodi Babalola

Sound Design
Guy Steer

Editor
Catherine Meyburgh

Line Producer
Tsholo Mashile (South Africa)
Kathrin Isberner (Germany)

Commissioning Editors
Martin Pieper (ZDF/arte)
Mette Hoffmann Meyer (DR)
Nick Fraser (BBC)
Kate Townsend-Vision (BBC)

Sales & distribution

88 min

Trailer

„Just in diesem Moment überraschen uns die aus dem Theaterbereich stammenden jungen Regisseure Hans Block und Moritz Riesewieck mit einem erstaunlichen Dokumentarfilm, der seit Monaten Publikum und Kritik auf den wichtigsten Festivals der Welt elektrisiert. Völlig zu Recht: Es ist, als würden einem die Scheuklappen weggerissen, als sähe man das, was sich seit Jahren direkt vor unseren Augen abspielt, zum ersten Mal unverschleiert... eine fesselnde ,Doku noir' mit höchstem Anspruch...Dieser Film müsste an allen Schulen gezeigt werden.“

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

17.05.2018