THE STATE AGAINST MANDELA AND THE OTHERS (2018)

The struggle against apartheid in South Africa, a collective effort

France. Direction: Nicolas Champeaux, Gilles Porte. Production: William Jéhannin, Julie Gayet, Nadia Turincev, Antoun Sehnaoui, Raphaëlle Delauche / UFO Production, Rouge International. Coproduction: ARTE France Cinéma, Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA), Korokoro Films, Cofilebo, Orange Studio. Screenplay: Nicolas Champeaux, Gilles Porte. Photography: Gilles Porte. Drawnings and animation: Oerd. Animation: Mathieu Ratier, David Devaux, Vincent Escrive, Matthieu Gueritte, Antoine Presles, Loïc Espiche, Soukaïna Najjarane, Théo Gremillet, Vivianne Karpp. Music: Aurélien Godderis-Chouzenoux. Edition: Alexandra Strauss. Running time: 106 min

LANGUAGE: English / SUBTITLES: Spanish 

On the centenary of his birth, in 2018, the story of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa tends to focus on its leader: Nelson Mandela. But another eight men, like him, were faced with the potential death sentence in that historic trial which took place between 1963 and 1964. Faced with a punctilious public prosecutor, they decided to turn their trial into a platform against apartheid. Today, thanks to the recently recovered audio files of the hearing, and with the first-hand testimony of people who lived through the events, this documentary looks at those days and at that trial.