The Man Who Drove With Mandela
Featuring Corin Redgrave as Cecil William
Produced in Association with Channel Four (UK), AVRO (Netherlands), SA Broadcasting, VRT-CANVAS (Belgium), Corporation for Public Broadcasting (USA). The London Production Fund, the British Film Institute and South African Department of Arts and Culture.
In 1962, at the height of oppression in apartheid South Africa, a gay white theatre Director was arrested with Nelson Mandela. His name was Cecil Williams. This is his story.
This film is an unusually revealing portrait of one of the historic figures behind Nelson Mandela’s long struggle for freedom in South Africa. In the early 60s, Mandela traveled incognito across South Africa, orgainizing armed rebellion against the apartheid regime.
Driving a gleaming Austin Westminster, Mandela was disguised as the chauffeur for an elegant, impeccably dressed white man. That man was Cecil Williams – a leading Johannesburg theater director, a committed freedom fighter and a gay man. Starring Corin Redgrave, “The Man who Drove with Mandela,” blends dramatized accounts of key incidents in William’s life with archival footage, home movies and contemporary interviews to tell the story of the personal and political bravery of a forgotten hero.
Selected Festivals and Awards
- Selected for inclusion in South Africa’s official celebrations of Nelson Mandela’s release and Twenty Years of Freedom!
- Screened at over 50 international festivals, including London, Vancouver, Sao Paolo, Jerusalem, Seattle, Melbourne.
- Theatrically released in Holland, USA, Germany, Spain, New Zealand, and the UK.
- Gay Teddy Bear Award for Best Documentary, Berlin International Film Festival, 1999
- Glaad Award nomination
- Best documentary at Berlin International Film Festival, 1999
Produced and directed by Greta Schiller. Written and researched by Mark Gevisser. Producer Mark Gevisser, Beulah Films, South Africa.
