It was decades in the making but the long-awaited film based on Nelson Mandela's autobiography is finally here. Starring British actor
Idris Elba as the beloved South African icon, "Mandela: Long Walk To
Freedom" had its South African premiere Sunday in a buzzing Johannesburg
cinema.
Mandela, 95, did not
attend the premiere as he remains in critical but stable condition in
his Johannesburg home, where he is being looked after by a team of
military doctors.
Yet relatives, friends
and former freedom fighters all joined the movie's cast and crew in what
was an exciting and emotional gathering.
"It's going to evoke a
lot of sad memories for me," Ndileka Mandela, the former President's
granddaughter, said at the red carpet before the film's screening. "His
incarceration was not a good time for me as his grandchild and for the
family as a whole."
Based on Mandela's
autobiography, also called "Long Walk to Freedom," the biopic follows
Mandela's life journey from his childhood growing up in a rural village,
through the anti-apartheid struggle and prison years, to his
inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South
Africa.
The film's producer,
South African Anant Singh, says he first started corresponding with
Mandela about the movie's rights when the iconic leader was still behind
bars.
Singh announced Tuesday that the film will be screened at the White House on November 7.
The movie is directed by
Justin Chadwick ("The Other Boleyn Girl," "The First Grader") and also
features fellow Briton Naomie Harris ("Skyfall") as Mandela's second
wife, Winnie.
The movie has two foreign
actors and the other 143 are all South Africans.
"Mandela: Long Walk To
Freedom" will be released in South Africa on November 28 and one day
later it will premiere in in New York and Los Angeles.
No comments:
Post a Comment