Biopic sets donated to Mandela museum
FOR those in the Eastern Cape who cannot get to Robben Island to see Nelson Mandela’s cell, it will soon be brought to them.
The Robben Island cell is among the film sets from the Mandela biopic, Long Walk to Freedom, that will be given to the Nelson Mandela Museum in Mthatha and Qunu. The sets cost R10-million to build, according to the film’s producers.
The museum will use the sets to recreate significant parts of Mandela’s life at its Qunu site.
Apart from the island prison cell, the sets include parts of the former Pretoria Supreme Court where Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment with the other Rivonia trialists in 1964.
An East London architectural firm is working on the design of the new site, which is about 2km from Mandela’s grave.
The museum’s chief executive, Bayanda Nyengule, said the museum was raising money to build the new site. It needed R35million, he said. Entrance to it would be free.
“We want to give the people the entire experience in terms of the footprints of Mandela,” said Nyengule.
The film’s producer, Anant Singh, said the sets had been donated “to ensure that our people can benefit from these creations in locations that are easily accessible”.
“We are pleased that, in addition to the film, we can further contribute to the preservation of Madiba’s amazing history and legacy,” he said.
The sets were designed by Johnny Breedt and built by a team of local artisans.
The containers carrying the film sets arrived in Qunu on Thursday.
Singh said the movie had become the “highest-grossing” biopic of all time in South Africa.
It earned about R20-million in just five weeks of its release in November, eclipsing the entire run of Oscar-winning movies — The King’s Speech, The Iron Lady, Lincoln, Schindler’s List, A Beautiful Mind, Ray and Gandhi.