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Antoine Fuqua always knew nelson mandela as an icon. But he didn’t know that he was also such a rebel and a true warrior. He remembers walking into a restaurant and seeing a picture of a man boxing and asking why they had a poster muhammad ali on the wall. They didn’t, he was told: it was Mandela.
It was just part of an inspiring journey making the new documentary “Troublemaker,” which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Tuesday.
“He evolved into the Mandela we all know and love,” Fuqua said. “Troublemaker allows you to see not just a mythical figure or a global icon, but a fallible human being, a man who became a great leader, who started out as a rebel, if you will, and who was willing to engage in violence at some point if necessary for the greater good.”
The film uses Mandela’s own voice (taken from more than 70 hours of recordings) to tell the story of the fight against apartheid. Foqua worked closely with anti-apartheid activist Mac Maharaj, who was jailed in 2007. Robben Island Smuggled with Mandela and played a key role in smuggling Mandela’s books out of prison, which became Long Walk to Freedom
Foka, Maharaj and the filmmaking team traveled across South Africa, visiting locations important in Mandela’s story, from the University of Fort Hare, where Mandela was a student before being expelled over protests, to Robben Island where he was imprisoned from 1964 to 1982, to his final resting place in Qunu.
He even slept on Robben Island for a few nights, which he said was “very uncomfortable”. There they bonded over dinner in the evening over where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. There, Maharaj told him that Mandela was a fan of Tracey Chapman.
They meet many people along the way, including some who resisted apartheid, and who remain optimistic and hopeful despite past and present resentment and racism.
“A gentleman came in and he had no arms and his eyes were missing. He looked like a James Bond character. He was wearing a Tommy Bahama shirt and a hat,” Fuqua said. “He was so energetic, so funny, so matter-of-fact about what was happening to him and fighting for what was right. I started to learn more about the people there.”
Fuqua spent more than three years making the film, blending archival footage and photographs, interviews with Maharaj and animations by South African artist Thabang Lehobye to fill in the gaps where footage didn’t exist, as in Robben Island.
Fuqua hopes viewers will learn lessons on a global scale.
“The lesson I learned is that meaningful change is never easy or comfortable,” Fuqua said. “People were willing to do what was necessary but also willing to do the difficult work to make a change.”
He added: “I hope people learn from the lessons of great leaders like Mandela and Michael Maharaj… people who stood up for the right reasons.”
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For more coverage of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/sundance-film-festival