On 14 October 2013, The Weinstein Company (TWC) and the Nelson Mandela Foundation announced their partnership in anticipation of the upcoming feature, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
TWC and the Foundation have joined forces to introduce Nelson Mandela and the incredible story of the transition to democracy in South Africa to a new generation of students in classrooms across America.
“Nelson Mandela is not just a symbol of hope and peace the world over, his very success is emblematic of what can be achieved through education,” added film producer Anant Singh.
Working with the largest school districts and education organisations in the US, including Teach for America, New York City Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified School District and Miami Dade Public Schools, TWC and the Foundation aim to see millions of high school students study the important life lessons inherent in Mandela’s story.
Share My Lesson – a free digital resource for teachers with over 347 000 subscribers – will also play a pivotal role in the distribution of the curriculum.
The program is the first of its kind and will be supplemented with clips from the upcoming film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, exclusive primary source materials courtesy of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and an introduction by former US President George H.W. Bush (the first President to invite Nelson Mandela to the White House).
This project is a nationwide effort to reach every high school student in the United States.
“There are no words to describe how meaningful it is to us to know that, thousands of miles away, schoolchildren are learning the history of our country and the father of our democracy,” said Sello Hatang, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
“It is an honour to be a part of this project and to provide US students with access to resources and materials from our archives and work that enable the continuation of a living legacy and learning. We are certain that this is exactly the kind of project Madiba had in mind when he said ‘the future belongs to our youth’.”
The curriculum is available for download at www.mandelafilm.com and www.sharemylesson.com/mandela.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom stars Idris Elba and Naomie Harris and is directed by Justin Chadwick. The film premieres in New York and Los Angeles on 29 November and nationwide on Christmas Day.
About The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company is a multimedia production and distribution company launched in October 2005 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films in 1979. TWC also encompasses Dimension Films, the genre label founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, which has released such popular franchises as Scream, Spy Kids and Scary Movie. Together TWC and Dimension Films have released a broad range of mainstream, genre and specialty films that have been commercial and critical successes. TWC releases took home eight 2012 Academy Awards, the most wins in the studio’s history. The tally included Best Picture for Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist and Best Documentary Feature for TJ Martin and Dan Lindsay’s Undefeated. The Artist brought TWC its second consecutive Best Picture statuette following the 2011 win for Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech. Currently in release are Unfinished Song and Fruitvale Station, Lee Daniels’ The Butler, The Grandmaster and Salinger. Upcoming releases include Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and August: Osage County.
About the Nelson Mandela Foundation
The Nelson Mandela Foundation, a registered Trust, is a human rights-oriented not-for-profit organisation. The Foundation delivers to the world an integrated and dynamic information resource on the life and times of Nelson Mandela, and promotes the search for sustainable solutions to critical social problems through memory-based dialogue interventions and tangible activations to realise the legacy of Madiba.
About Share My Lesson
Share My Lesson was developed by the American Federation of Teachers, a union of over 1.5-million professionals, and TSL Education, creators of TES Connect, the largest network of teachers in the world. Share My Lesson is a place where educators can come together to share their greatest teaching resources and collaborate on best practices at no cost. Share My Lesson features a significant resource bank aligned to the Common Core State Standards, including advice and guidance to aid in its successful implementation.