At the heart of the TUTU documentary, set to make its African premiere at the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival this June, is the extraordinary two-decade archive captured by South African journalist Roger Friedman and photographer Benny Gool.
Through Friedman and Gool’s lens, audiences witness some of the most defining and deeply personal moments of Tutu’s life.
The film, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Sam Pollard and fresh from winning the Peace Film Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, captures the cleric stopping a mob from necklacing a suspected informant, confronting former US President Ronald Reagan over sanctions against Apartheid South Africa, breaking down while chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and renewing his wedding vows with warmth and humour.
Party trick
Friedman says the relationship between the pair and Tutu became something of a running joke. “It was part of our party trick,” he recalls. “He enjoyed telling people that we were a Jew and a Muslim, and that he loved us.”
Pollard says the documentary was built around Tutu’s own voice and spirit. “I wanted Tutu’s voice to be the heartbeat of the story, to let his humanity, humour and moral conviction lead us through his world,” says the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning director.
The documentary moves beyond the fall of Apartheid to explore Tutu’s global activism in his later years, reinforcing why he was often called “South Africa’s conscience”.
Deeply personal portrait
In one of the film’s closing moments, Tutu leaves viewers with a message of hope: “I hope that the world would realise that there is no situation of which we can say, ‘This is absolutely devoid of hope.’ God bless you.”
Industry publication The Hollywood Reporter described the documentary as “a deeply personal portrait of the man, so much so that by the film’s conclusion you will feel as if you’ve truly come to know him”.
TUTU is produced by HiddenLight and Universal Pictures Content Group, with executive producers including Richard Branson and Trevor Noah.
As part of the Encounters festival programme, Pollard and editor Paul Trewartha will also host editing masterclasses in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Before becoming a director, Pollard worked closely with Spike Lee, editing films including Jungle Fever and the Oscar-nominated documentary 4 Little Girls.
