Winnie doccie heads for festival

Among the 16 films nominated in the same category are Last Men in Aleppo, which follows the lives of people in Syria during the war, and Plastic China, about a girl who works for a recycling company in China.

A film documenting the life of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has been nominated for the Sundance Film Festival.

The annual festival, with more than 13,000 entries from all over the world, will be held in Utah in the US next month.

Winnie, directed by Pascale Lamche and co-produced by Cape Town production company Big World Cinema, has been nominated in the world cinema documentary category.

It was shot in the Eastern Cape, Free State and Western Cape.

Madikizela-Mandela also allowed the crew to interview her at her home in Gauteng.

The film pieces together her life and contribution to the struggle, with insight from those closest to her.

Big World manager Steven Markovitz said the film was not yet complete as the company needed R1.5-million to buy archive material, mainly owned by overseas companies.

Completed parts of the films submitted to the festival for consideration were enough to convince the panel.

"We have applied to various South African institutions for funding and we are waiting for a response," Markovitz said.

"We need help to acquire these rights so the film can be seen in South Africa too.

"But we are thrilled to be nominated for this competition as it is an incredible platform to showcase our work in front of distributors and TV buyers who normally come to the festival.

"Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is one of the most misunderstood and intriguingly powerful contemporary female political figures," said Markovitz.

"Her rise and seeming fall from grace bear the hallmarks of epic tragedy.

"For the first time, this film pieces together and properly considers her life and contribution to the struggle to bring down apartheid from the inside, with intimate insight from those who were closest to her and with testimony from the enemies who sought to extinguish her radical capacity to shake up the order of things."

Among the 16 films nominated in the same category are Last Men in Aleppo, which follows the lives of people in Syria during the war, and Plastic China, about a girl who works for a recycling company in China.

"All films have global issues which impact our lives, but we are confident that Winnie is the best," said Markovitz.

Madikizela-Mandela's daughter Zindzi had been unable to contain her joy, pride and excitement when she heard that the film had been nominated, he said.