Mandela’s story in his words and in his own voice

Mandela: Life will be an unprecedented and exclusively authorised five-part series founded on Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary life and the most dramatic period in South African history – 1984 to 1994, the “deadly decade” during which thousands of people died in political violence.

It was a decade that began with Mandela in prison and ended with him being elected president of South Africa after the country’s first democratic election.

Directed by acclaimed South African film-maker Mandla Dube, the series is uniquely authorised by the Nelson Mandela Foundation with exclusive permission to archivally recreate Mandela’s voice from his personal archive and to feature previously unreleased material and his unpublished letters from prison.

The series has been in development for two years and will be ready for global release on Freedom Day, 27 April, 2025, the 31st anniversary of SA’s first democratic election.

Thirty years after SA transitioned to democracy and a decade after Mandela’s death, the foundation – the official custodian of his personal archive – has granted its long-time creative partner and originating publisher of five books with and about Mandela, Blackwell & Ruth, exclusive permission to create the series.

Blackwell & Ruth is partnering with Dube and will co-produce with his production company.

Mandela: Life will be Mandela’s own story “in his own words, narrated in his voice”.

Made in collaboration with the archive and research team Mandela personally authorised in 2004, it aims to be the most rigorously researched, in-depth and personal longform documentary portrait of his life yet produced.