Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom enjoys successful New York screening
By Dennis Kabatto – The screening of the Nelson Mandela’s biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Monday in New York was a bittersweet experience for a large number of South Africans who attended the event.
Actor Malik Yoba & Shanta Bryant Gyan – Public Relations and Media Manager for Shared Interest New York screening of Mandela-Long Walk to Freedom
“It’s really a very, very, very painful story. It opened old scars inside me and many other South Africans who were present in the theater. While I recommend the film, I ask you to watch it at your own risk (too much pain),” said Sduduzu Ka Mbili, choreographer and host of No Questions Asked radio show on Pacifica Network Station WBAI, 99.5 FM in New York.
“As for me, hmmm, I am not sure how a person can forgive such crimes against humanity. Much respect to Nelson Mandela. He is a true Saint. He has taught the world the greatest lesson about UBUNTU (South African Bantu language term meaning human kindness). Long Live Madiba,” Ka Mbili added Donna Katzin, executive director of Shared Interest a leading New York based nonprofit social investment fund working in southern Africa, which hosted the benefit screening said in a statement via email “We are deeply honored to host an exclusive New York City benefit screening of ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’. Since the founding of Shared Interest in 1994, former South African President Nelson Mandela has been a strong supporter of our work to create social and economic change by bridging the gap between South African banks and South Africa’s most marginalized and impoverished communities.”
Katzin said the epic film is “a reminder of how far South Africa has come since the apartheid era, and the continuing long walk before us to make Madiba’s vision of social and economic transformation a daily reality for all South Africans.”
South African born, New York based Choreographer and Radio host Sduduzo Ka Mbili chatting with Donna Katzin – executive director of Shared Interest
Katzin also told Sheila Van Diver, host of African New Dawn Radio show, which airs Sundays from 8 pm to 9 pm on WRSU, 88.7 FM at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey that the film based on former president Mandela’s autobiography took 22 years in the making. It is the largest South African film production ever mounted and produced by South Africa’s first black producer Anant Singh – who was handpicked by Mandela.
She further explained that Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is a real portrayal of Mandela and not just the myths or things you read about him in the papers but about the man actually as a husband and a father. The film is an uplifting drama about struggle and hope and both in the man himself and in the movement to abolish apartheid and laid the foundation for a just new nation, said Katzin.
The film stars Idris Elba and Naomie Harris who played Winnie Mandela were absent at Shared Interest’s benefit screening. But a slew of dignitaries and actors attended including former Mayor David Dinkins, South Africa’s Consul General in New York George Monyemangene, MediaChannel founder, executive editor Danny Schechter, actress Troi Zee, Malik Yoba, Sierra Leonean actor Sam Ngaujah, Sports power couple Sanya Richards-Ross & Aaron Ross, Grammy nominated Les Nubians sisters Celia and Helene Faussart and singer, songwriter Maxwell among others.
Speaking recently after the New York premiere of the film at Alice Tully Hall in Manhattan, producer Singh said, “The New York premiere marks the official launch of the film in the United States. “Having Zindzi (Mandela’s daughter) with us is very special as she represents Madiba in spirit.”
He told reporters he gained inspiration from President Mandela’s 27 years imprisonment to persevere in producing the film. He recalled last year when he spent a day with Mandela and showed him scenes from the film including a scene where actor Elba was wearing a Mandela shirt, Singh said “he was very happy and he asked is this me?
Former Secretary of State Hillary, General Colin Powell and Senator John McCain will host a special screening of the film at the John F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday November.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom opens in U.S. theaters November 29 and throughout Europe in December.
