The State Against Mandela and the Others

FEATURE DOCUMENTARY

FRIDAY, MARCH 29 – 6:45 – 1H46 – ALL AUDIENCES

Presentation by and discussion with French co-director, co-screenwriter and director of photography Gilles Porte and co-director, co-screenwriter and reporter Nicolas Champeaux

History remembers only one man in the struggle against Apartheid: Nelson Mandela. He would have been 100 years old last year. He was at the center-stage of a historic trial in 1963 and 1964. Also on trial were eight others who, like Mandela, faced the death sentence. Up against an overzealous Prosecutor, they decide together to turn their trial into a rostrum against Apartheid. Based on recently recovered sound archives of those hearings, the film permits us to relive the intense power struggle within these decisive courtroom battles.

Audio archives, rare interviews with the nine accused or their surviving family members, masterfully weaved together with images to ignite and animate before viewers the struggle that changed South Africa forever.

This screening is associated with Thursday’s film A Dry White Season (Une saison blanche et sèche) presented by cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn and with Free Master Classes by Pierre-William Glenn, Gilles Porte and Nicolas Champeaux taking place on Thursday, March 28 and Friday, March 29 in VCU’s Institute for Contemporary Art.