Dear Mandela
Directors: Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza
Logline: Dear Mandela chronicles the year leading up to the 2010 Soccer World Cup through the eyes of three young leaders in South Africa’s Shack Dwellers Movement as they face mass evictions, assassination attempts and a betrayal of Nelson Mandela’s promise of a ‘better life for all’.
Synopsis: An intimate portrayal of three young South Africans who live in the vast slums of Durban. Shot over one year, as the city prepares to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup – the most-watched sporting event in the world – our characters navigate growing up amidst escalating mass evictions. Nelson Mandela, their hero, is a guiding force behind their struggles but also a reminder of the broken promise of ‘a better life for all’. How does his sacrifice of 27 years in prison resonate in a South Africa gone awry?
In this beautifully rendered documentary, Mazwi, a radical schoolboy; Zama, an AIDS orphan; and Mnikelo, a mischievous activist, must make difficult choices to survive. When political violence threatens her slum, Zama must choose between moving far away from the city or staying despite the dangers. Mazwi has to chart an uncertain future as he completes his final year of high school. Mnikelo must decide whether to boycott the elections and risk political persecution. While state-of-the-art stadiums are built, the government redoubles its efforts to eradicate the slums and create ‘World Class Cities’ to impress the international guests. The shack dwellers come together and decide to take their case to South Africa’s version of the Supreme Court: the hallowed Constitutional Court. For them, it is a day of reckoning, as the twelve most respected judges in the land must decide whether a shack is, in fact, a home. DEAR MANDELA portrays the stadiums and the shanty towns beneath them as symbols of the inequality so many around the world must contend with.
A central idea in the film is one of leadership. As the beloved Nelson Mandela’s face beams down from every shack wall, schoolroom chalkboard and church pulpit, our characters grapple with their individual role in shaping a country at war with itself amidst daily violent township protests, deepening poverty and rampant corruption. DEAR MANDELA is, ultimately, a story about young people who decide early on to fight for something bigger than themselves, inspiring us to do the same.