GOODBYE BAFANA

Year: 2007
USA: Paramount Classics
UK: Paramount Pictures UK
Cast: Joseph Fiennes, Dennis Haysbert, Diane Kruger, Shiloh Henderson, Tyron Keogh, Megan Smith, Jessica Manuel, Faith Ndukwana, Terry Pheto, Lesley Mongezi, Zingi Mtuzula, Mehboob Bawa, Shakes Myeko, Sizwe Msutu, Khaya Sityo, Patrick Lyster, Warrick Grier, Clive Fox, Eduan Van Jaarsveldt, Claire Berlein, Jennifer Steyn, Andre Jacobs, Mark Elderkin, Danny Keogh, Marko Van Der Colff, Corien Pelt, Neels Van Jaarsveld, Garth Breytenbach, Louis Van Niekerk, Adrian Galley
Director: Bille August
Countries: Germany / South Africa / France / Belgium / Italy
USA & UK: 118 mins
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language, racist references, and sex references
USA Release Date: 14 December 2007 (Limited Release - New York)
UK Release Date: 11 May 2007 (Limited Release - London West End, Empire and key cities)

UK Distributor

Synopsis

South Africa - 1968

Twenty-five million blacks are ruled by a minority of four million whites under the brutal Apartheid regime of the Nationalist Party Government. Blacks have no vote, no land rights, no rights to freedom of movement, no right to own a business, to housing, or to education. Determined to retain power, the whites ban all black opposition organisations, forcing their leaders into exile or imprisoning them for life on Robben Island.

James Gregory, a typical white Afrikaner, regards blacks as subhuman. Having grown up on a farm in the Transkei, he learned to speak Xhosa at an early age. This makes him an ideal choice to become the warder in charge of Mandela and his comrades on Robben Island. After all, Gregory speaks their language and can spy on them without them knowing it. However, the plan backfires. Through Mandela's influence, Gregory's allegiance gradually shifts from the racist government to the struggle for a free South Africa.

GOODBYE BAFANA tracks the unlikely but profound relationship between these two men. Through their unique friendship, we witness not only Gregory's growing awareness of man's inhumanity to man, but South Africa's evolution from Apartheid to a vibrant democracy.

This story, which documents how Mandela became the most inspirational political figure of the modern world, poses the questions: Who is the prisoner? And who sets whom free?

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find ways in which you yourself have altered". - Nelson Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom