One Village Entertainment and Image Entertainment, brands of RLJ Entertainment (NASDAQ: RLJE), will release Winnie Mandela, the film adaptation of Anné Mariè du Preez Bezdrob’s biography Winnie Mandela: A Life, on September 6, 2013. Written and directed by Darrell J. Roodt, Winnie Mandela stars Academy Award Winner Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls; Sex in the City) and Academy Award Nominee Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow; Red Tails; Iron Man). The film also features the song, “Bleed for Love” by six time Academy Award nominee Diane Warren and sung by Hudson. Winnie Mandela is presented by TD Jakes (TDJ Enterprises), and produced by André Pieterse (Ironwood Films) and Michael Mosca (Equinoxe Films). Bill Bromiley, Chief Acquisitions Officer for Image Entertainment, made today’s announcement.
“Both Jennifer Hudson (as Winnie) and Terrence Howard (as Nelson Mandela) deliver powerful performances that depict the lives of two influential people of our time,” said Bromiley. “They are a force to be reckoned with on screen, showcasing the Mandelas’ journey through their struggles and triumphs.”
Winnie Mandela explores the personal and political life of the wife of renowned activist and revered former South African President, Nelson Mandela. The film tells the compelling story of one woman’s journey as she fights for the freedom of the man she loves and for the freedom of her people during the Apartheid era. Winnie Mandela depicts the struggle to keep the Mandela dream alive amidst her husband’s life imprisonment, her own time in solitary confinement, and her battle to overcome controversies that followed her through the years.
Winnie Mandela made 70 appearances on American network television, merited 20 stories in the New York Times, and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Known as South Africa’s brave and selfless “Mother of the Nation,” she became one of the most famous women in the world.
Recent Image Entertainment releases include The Numbers Station with John Cusack and Malin Akerman, Tomorrow You’re Gone with Stephen Dorff, Michelle Monaghan and Willem Dafoe, Day of the Falcon with Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto and Mark Strong and the upcoming The Colony with Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton and Kevin Zegers, Blood with Paul Bettany, Mark Strong and Brian Cox and Paradise with Julianne Hough, Russell Brand, Octavia Spencer and Holly Hunter, written, directed and produced by Diablo Cody.