Dear Mandela | |
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Directed by | Dara Kell & Christopher Nizza |
Written by | Dara Kell & Christopher Nizza |
Produced by | Dara Kell & Christopher Nizza |
Starring | Mnikelo Ndabankulu, Zama Ndlovu, Mazwi Nzimande, S'bu Zikode |
Release date |
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Running time | 94 minutes |
Countries | South Africa United States |
Languages | Zulu, Xhosa, English |
Dear Mandela is a 2012 South-African/American documentary focusing on three friends who are members of the shackdwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo. They fight eviction by making a legal challenge against the KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act of 2007 which ends up going to the final court of appeal, the Constitutional Court. The challenge is successful but swiftly results in a violent attack on the Kennedy Road informal settlement in 2009. The film-makers were themselves caught up in the attack. [1]
With the events of the film happening long after Nelson Mandela stepped down as President of South Africa, his promise to house all citizens is still a central question. [2] [3] [4]
The film was written, produced and directed by Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza. [1] It premiered at the 2012 Brooklyn International Film Festival. [5]
Daniel Isaac "Danny" Schechter was an American television producer, independent filmmaker, blogger, and media critic. He wrote and spoke about many issues including apartheid, civil rights, economics, foreign policy, journalistic control and ethics, and medicine. While attending the London School of Economics in the 1960s, Schechter became an anti-apartheid activist and made trips to South Africa on behalf of the African National Congress (ANC). Later he would help musician Steven Van Zandt assemble other performers to form Artists United Against Apartheid, who released the album Sun City in 1985. Schechter produced and directed six nonfiction films about Nelson Mandela from the time Mandela was a political prisoner to his election and service as President of South Africa.
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