Jennifer Hudson returns to the big screen to play Winnie, the wife of former South African leader Nelson Mandela, played by Terrance Howard.
Winnie focuses on her relationship with Mandela during the political struggle under the vicious apartheid system, a system very similar to the Jim Crow laws that were enforced in America post slavery. The film just recently wrapped in Cape Town, South Africa but no release date has been set.
Bishop T. D. Jakes has now joined the project as executive producer, behind his company TDJ Enterprises/TDJ Independents. Jakes, the pastor of a mega church in Dallas Texas with an upwards of 30,000 members, called ‘The Potter’s House’, uses his companies to spread his faith-based ideas. He has leveraged the power of his following to produce movies like Jumping The Broom and Sparkle.
Jakes’ production company has also executive produced A Million Colours, a film based on the real life accounts of a Zulu ,Muntu Ndebele, and his Afrika ner friend Norman Knox. Last month A Million Colours opened the 2012 Hollywood Black Film Festival.
The Bishop said, “Stories like Winnie and A Million Colours are important historically and socially. Collaborations like this offer us a unique ability to provide the global community a window into African culture through the creation of quality content.”
