Shivaani Selvaraj

Shivaani will direct Dear Mandela, a feature documentary that will explore the transition to democracy in post-Apartheid South Africa where a decade later, the number of people living on less than a dollar a day has doubled, average life expectancy has fallen by 13 years, and the country has become one of the most violent places in the world. Dear Mandela will examine what has gone wrong with the dream of a New South Africa and gives voice to a new resistance that is emerging in the face of appalling living standards and utter disregard by the government.

Shivaani will travel to South Africa to learn and document the stories of Indians who crossed class and ethnic barrier to join forces with the ANC against apartheid. In this planning and production phase, she will film contemporary interviews with people who were part of the anti-apartheid movement, find archival footage, and film observational footage exploring the status of Indians in South African politics today. Given what is happening in the world, Shivaani sees pressing need to forge alliances of all kinds. She hopes that the story of how South Asians were incorporated into the freedom struggle despite ethnic and socioeconomic differences can provide lessons in thinking beyond these divides and show how one can enter into politics grounded in identity by not by limited by it.