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Synopsis
F.W. de Klerk was the last President of apartheid-era South Africa. In less than 4 years he went from being Mandela's jailor to his vice president. Together they changed history for the better and may have prevented a civil war, yet little is known about de Klerk. Through his probing lens, Rossier explores the fascinating political journey and legacy of this complicated figure.
It could have been a bloodbath of historic proportions. But instead, one man made the end of apartheid possible: in February 1990, President F.W. de Klerk lifted the ban on the African National Congress and ordered the release of Nelson Mandela. As the world celebrated, Mandela would go on to become South Africa's first democratically elected president -- with de Klerk as his Vice President. But de Klerk's history is complicated. Before becoming president, he headed several ministries during the policy of "Total Onslaught, Total Strategy" against ANC insurgents and activists. De Klerk had been a virulent defender of white Africans and their privileges, and his own term as president was marred by political violence -- often at the hands of his own security forces. What pushed this man to reverse his beliefs and jumpstart the process of making South Africa a more equal and just nation?
Featuring in-depth interviews with de Klerk himself, former president Thabo Mbeki, anti-apartheid activists Father Michael Lapsley and Mathews Phosa, Yasmin Sooka (of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission), Richard Goldstone (who headed the Goldstone Commission investigations into political violence) and many others, filmmaker Nicolas Rossier explores the fascinating political journey and legacy of this complex figure.
Participants
Thabo Mbeki South African politician who served two terms as the second post-apartheid President from June 14, 1999 to September 24, 2008. He served with de Klerk as Deputy President under Nelson Mandela in 1994.
Mathews Phosa South African attorney and politician and was also an anti- apartheid activist. He is a former premier of Mpumalanga as well as a member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress (ANC). Since the 2007 Conference of the ANC Phosa was elected to the post of Treasurer General for the Organization.
William Gumede Senior Associate and Oppenheimer fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford, and author of ‘Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC’.
Yasmin Sooka Joined the Foundation for Human Rights in 2001 and currently serves as its Executive Director. In 1995 she was appointed as a Commissioner on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and was responsible for the final report.
Allister Sparks Veteran writer, journalist and political commentator. He founded the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism and became its Executive Director from 1992 to 1997 He was South African correspondent for The Washington Post, The Observer and Holland's leading newspaper, NRC Handelsblad, from 1981 to 1992.
Albie Sachs Famous anti-apartheid activist was a judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa. He was appointed to the court by Nelson Mandela in 1994 and retired in October 2009.
Randall Robinson African American lawyer, author and activist. He is the founder of TransAfrica, the leading anti-apartheid organization in the US. He is known as one of the main leaders of the anti-apartheid movement.
Piet Croucamp Lecturer in political theory at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Johannesburg. He holds a D.Phil from University of the Free State. His main research interest is the quantification of social concepts and measurability of social cohesion.
Marcia Khoza Daughter of Portia Shabangu, an ANC militant who was assassinated in 1987 by death squad leader Eugene de Kock. In 2012 Marcia went to meet de Kock to forgive him for the murder of her mother. She was the first relative of a victim to meet and forgive Eugene de Kock in prison.
Roelf Meyer In 1986 he became Deputy Minister of Law and Order and in 1988 of Constitutional Development (until 1991) and then minister of defense and chief negotiator for the de Klerk government during Codessa.
Alayne Reesberg Long time personal friend of de Klerk and was working in his government as a spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs. Today she is the CEO of Cape Town Design.
Max du Preez South African author, columnist and documentary filmmaker and was the founding editor of Vrye Weekblad. He has followed TRC for SABC and reported on most of the important confessions.
Michael Lapsley Former South African anti-apartheid activist. In 1990, three months after the release of Nelson Mandela, he was sent a letter bomb by the Civil Cooperation Bureau, a covert outfit of the apartheid security forces. He lost both hands and the sight in one eye in the blast, and was seriously burnt.
Mof Terreblanche One of de Klerk’s oldest friends and confidants. His brother Sampie Terreblanche left the National Party over opposition to apartheid policies and was a founding member of the Democratic Party.
Chester Crocker Served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 1981 to 1989 in the Reagan Administration. Crocker is credited as the architect of the U.S. policy of "constructive engagement" towards apartheid South Africa.
Richard Joseph Goldstone Former judge from South Africa and a served on the Transvaal Supreme Court from 1980 to 1989. During the transition from apartheid to multiracial democracy in the early 1990s, he headed the influential Goldstone Commission investigations into political violence in South Africa between 1991 and 1994.
Dave Steward Served as a diplomat from 1966 until 1985 and was the South African Ambassador to the UN in 1981 and 1982. In 1992, he was appointed Director General in the Office of President F.W. de Klerk. He helped set up the F.W. de Klerk Foundation and has served as the Executive Director.
Leon Wessels South African lawyer, politician, and activist who served in the white minority National Party government during the apartheid years and was one of very few Afrikaner politicians to show public contrition for the acts of that government. Wessels served as a Minister of Local Government, National Housing and Manpower, as well as Deputy Law and Order Minister.
Jakkie Cilliers Executive Director of the Institute for Security Studies. Dr. Cilliers co-founded the Institute in 1990 and played an important role in the transformation of the South African armed forces and the institution of civilian control over the military period 1990 to 1996
BEHIND THE SCENES
FILMMAKERS
Produced by Baraka Productions and Naashon Zalk Media
NICOLAS ROSSIER Director & Producer
NAASHON ZALK Producer & Cinematographer | CAMERON CLENDANIEL Editor & Co-Producer
TAMI WORONOFF Producer | JON ALPERT & MATTHEW O'NEILL Executive Producers
PRODUCTION PHOTOS
SCREENINGS
2018
June - Canada Premiere on Knowledge TV British Columbia
January - International TV premiere on DW International News channel
Check for your local listing with your local cable provider in Europe and World
2015
May 10-18 - It's All True Film Festival
São Paulo - RESERVA: april 10 @ 22:00, L. CULTURA: APRIL 13 @ 13:00
Rio de Janeiro - 01: april 17 @ 19:00, Itaú. Botafogo: april 18 @ 19:00
May 18 - 23 - Knickerbocker Theatre Holland, MI
March 15 - 20 - TV premiere on Yes Docu in Israel
March 15 @ 22.30 - March 20 @ 23:50.
Feb 2-7 - Swiss National Television
Feb 6-20 - The Quad Cinema, New York City
Dec 15-24 - Spiegel Television, Germany
2014
Nov 15-29 - IDFA Documentary Festival, Amsterdam
Jul 10-20 - Durban International Film Festival, South Africa
May 15-25 - NRK Television Broadcast, Norway
May 5-25 - SVT Television Broadcast, Sweden
April 30 - NHK Television, Japan
NEWS
2016
January 21 - International TV premiere of The Other Man on DW International News channel
January 19 - Discussion & Screening (the Other Man) for MLK week - ACME Screening Room Lambertville
2015
November 1 - The Other Man premieres on ETV - SA's first cable channel !
September 15 - Check our new advertizing with Foreign Affairs - Nice to have their support !
July 30 - Overwhelming success with our TV premiere on ENCA TV - trending very high on Twitter !
July 27 - For our French and Swiss Viewers don't miss "The Other Man" on Swiss TV RTS
July 26 - For our South African viewers ! Don't miss the TV premiere July 30 on eNCA TV
July 20 - Happy to announce that Paris based Java Films aquired "the Other Man".
June 15 - A great new review in Film Forward
May 7 - Film Premiere in South America @ the IT's All True Film Festival -May 16,17,18,19
Feb 28 - Interview story on the film in Euronews, featuring dir. Nicolas Rossier
February 26 - **** Review in The South African which called it "brilliant"
Feb 25 - An interesting article about de Klerk by author and journalist Allister Sparks
Feb 24 - Reuters and Sky News feature the film
Feb 22 - Great review of the film in The Hollywood Reporter
Feb 21 - Max Du Preez (an interviewee in the film) writes about De Klerk's legacy
February 11 - Our film featured in the Guardian - de Klerk legacy in question
Feb 6 - The New York Times, Village Voice, review the film ahead of its Quad Cinema premiere in New York City
2014
Nov 25 - Legendary NYC distributor First Run Features takes over NA rights - VOD and DVD release planned for Summer 2015
Nov 15 - The film premieres at the prestigious IDFA festival in Amsterdam - 6 screenings are scheduled
July 17 - AP Big Story interviews Nicolas Rossier about The Other Man
July 11- Marianne Thamm's review of "The Other Man" in the Daily Maverick
Jul 10 - The film makes its world premiere at the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa
Our South African producer Naashon Zalk will be attending the q/a as well as Marcia Khoza one of main featured participants
Jun 20 - Post-production for the film is completed at DCTV in New York City and a big thank you to the film's Executive Producers Jon Alpert and Matt O'Neill for believing in the project and to the film's Editor and Co-Producer Cameron Clendaniel for two years of hard work!
reviews
"Highly Recommended"
T. Keogh - Video Librarian
"Astutely compelling historical biography - Highly Recommended !"
Caron Knauer - Educational Media Review Online
"Informative, provocative and unsettling"
- Ted Metrakas, Film Forward
"Riveting...A fascinating account of the man who lead with Nelson Mandela South Africa’s complex transition to democracy”. "
- Justice Richard Goldstone, Head of the Goldstone Commission
“Brilliant..effortlessly and brilliantly tells of a story many overlooked. President FW de Klerk played an important role in the undoing of Apartheid in South Africa”
- John Cole-Morgan, The South African
"Un document passionnant et essentiel pour mieux comprendre l'homme derrière le nom."
“Extraordinary...powerful...fascinates. His teaming with Mandela unleashed a wave of right-wing violence”
- Ernest Hardy, The Village Voice
“Fascinating…tracks his prickly, protean relationship with Nelson Mandela in abolishing almost a half-century of official oppression..Even Keeled...Engaging....The stakes were so high and the statesmanship so delicate”
- Jeanette Catsoulis, The New York Times
"A solid historical primer...Rossier strikes a delicate but credible balance between the former leader's unambiguous statements that he didn't know anything about assassinations and critics' insistence that, even if he didn't specifically give orders, he was 'politically and morally responsible' "
- John Defore, The Hollywood Reporter
“An illuminating study of the character, role and motivations of the man who together with Nelson Mandela transformed apartheid South Africa into a democracy”
- IDFA (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam)
“Rossier and Zalk’s film is beautifully shot and edited -a dispassionate and balanced attempt at trying to understand a contentious yet significant player in the country’s contemporary history"
- Marianne Thamm, The Daily Maverick
“There are three seminal works this year that really encapsulate the history of S.A. as she celebrates her 20th - Khalo Matabane’s, ‘Mandela... The Myth and Me’; Rehad Desai’s ‘Miners Shot Down’ (truly allegorical!); Nicolas Rossier’s ‘The Other Man’ ”
- Mahen Bonetti, Director & Founder, African Film Festival
“Plenty of thought-provoking insight into the now-seventy-eight-year-old de Klerk, reevaluating the legacy of the man who negotiated with Mandela to end apartheid in South Africa”
“A gripping and nuanced examination of a transformative figure in South Africa's history. With a resurgence of debates about the legacies of racism and growing inequality, this timely film offers unflinching look into the shadows of our past”
- Matthew Kustenbauder, Research Fellow Harvard University
CONTACT US
For North American Rights: www.firstrunfeatures.com
Marc Mauceri - marcm@firstrunfeatures.com
For World TV Rights: www.javafilms.tv
Kathryn Bonnici -kathryn@javafilms.tv
For Australia, Oceania and New Zealand: www.antidotefilms.com.au
Gil Scrines - gil@antidotefilms.com.au
For Medias & Appearances in the US or SA as well as other inquiries
contact Nicolas Rossier or/and Naashon Zalk - info@barakaproductions.com
More information on Baraka Productions LLC and Nicolas Rossier
Visit: www.barakaproductions.com