Event Review: Screening for “Winnie Mandela” Starring Jennifer Hudson and Terrance Howard at MegaFest 2013

Bishop T.D. Jakes held a private screening for “Winnie Mandela”, a biopic starring Jennifer Hudson, during MegaFest 2013 in Dallas, Texas. The movie’s screening was featured during the International Faith and Family Film Festival at the Omni Hotel. Numerous celebrities in attendance of MegaFest stopped by the red carpet for the movie’s screening, including Kim Burrell, Jennifer Hudson, Kevin Liles, Robert Townsend, Holly Robinson-Peete and more. Check out pictures from the red carpet below.

“Winnie Mandela”, directed by Darrell Roodt, is an adaptation of Anne Marie du Preez Bezrob’s biography, “Winnie Mandela: A Life”, with award-winning actress/singer Jennifer Hudson leading the cast as Winnie Mandela and co-stars Terrance Howard, Wendy Crewson, Elias Koteas and others.

The movie follows the life of Winnie Mandela from her strict rural upbringing by a father disappointed she was not born a boy, to her giving up the chance to study in America in order to remain in South Africa where she felt more needed, through her husband Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment.

She then faces continuous harassment by the security police, banishment to a small Free State town, betrayal by friends and allies, and more than a year in solitary confinement. Upon her release, she continues her husband’s activism against apartheid and, after his release from prison, suffers divorce due to her infidelity and political pressures. She also faces accusations of violence and murder and in the end, must own up to her actions in court, while many still remain loyal to her because of her fight against apartheid.

No word yet on when the movie will be released in theaters.