Leaving Mandela Park

A provocative look from within at Afrikaner extremists who, in 1991, clung to the belief that they were the chosen ‘super race’ of Africa. With the demise of white rule, many of these Boers lived in fear. Some had banded into paramilitary groups, such as Eugene Terre’Blanche’s Afrikaner Resistance Movement, which claimed wide support within the South African army and police. They were preparing for an armed showdown with the new government.

A cinematic road trip through South Africa. As a Dutch-South-African filmmaker, Saskia Vredeveld asks herself the question: 'did I become a racist, because I grew up in a racist country?' Therefore she embarks on a journey, from Cape Town to the heart of South Africa, to the towns whose 'white' names are about to be erased from the map such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam. What contradictory feelings does she have regarding her country? Is there still a future for the white people in the new South Africa?

After the death of her husband Ivan, writer Marion Bloem must rebuild her life. While painting, she processes her pain and grief, as she has not yet found the words to put her emotions on paper. Later, the poems come, and after a long inner process, she writes a book. A film about love, loss, and the transformative power of creativity.