On 13th March we are running a free film screening at SOAS of Life is Wonderful: Mandela's Unsung Heroes. 2024 is the 60th anniversary of the Rivonia trial (and 30 years since 1994 elections/end of South African apartheid) we are putting together a programme to mark these significant moments in history and the screening is the first in a series of events.

“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” 

Nelson Mandela’s words, spoken quietly and with conviction 40 years ago this year during the seminal Rivonia Trial, resonate through the ages. He became a global figure without peer – an inspiration to people in every part of the world. Yet alongside him in the dock as he spoke those words were eight other men who had risked their lives and their freedom for the cause of a free South Africa. Through ground-breaking interviews the film, produced by former English High Court Judge Sir Nicholas Stadlen, sheds light onto the stories of Nelson Mandela’s co-defendants at the Rivonia trial, the lawyers who saved them from the gallows and some of the other brave men and women who supported them in their fight for the freedom of South Africa.  

Time: 3-5pm 

Date: 13th March 2024 

Venue:  Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT), Main Building, SOAS University of London (10 Thornhaugh Street London WC1H 0XG)

The film lasts c.90 mins and there will be a short Q&A after, convened by Dr Wayne Dooling, Chair of SOAS' Centre of African Studies. 

Free but booking via Eventbrite is essential.