Nelson Mandela: The Myth & Me

Writer/director Khalo Matabane was an idealistic teenager with fanciful ideas about a postapartheid era of freedom and justice when the great icon of liberation Nelson Mandela was released from prison. In a personal odyssey encompassing an imaginary letter to Mandela and conversations with politicians, activists, intellectuals and artists, Matabane interrogates for himself the meaning of freedom, reconciliation and forgiveness, and challenges Mandela’s legacy in today’s world of conflict and inequality.

The film juxtaposes Matabane’s inner quest for coherence in the current political context and the opinions of people who have known Mandela – people like Colin Powell, Ariel Dorfman, Pumla Gqola, Wole Soyinka, and the Dalai Lama.

Matabane weighs equally the words of erudite thinkers and ordinary people.