Born Free: Mandela’s Generation of Hope

Born Free Mandela’s Generation of Hope is a documentary that follows young South Africans born after the end of apartheid, a generation raised on the promise of freedom shaped by Nelson Mandela’s legacy. Through intimate portraits and everyday moments, the film explores how hope, ambition, and frustration coexist as inequality, unemployment, and social division persist. Rather than offering political commentary, it listens to lived experience, questioning what freedom means for those who inherited it rather than fought for it.

The film is by Ilvy Njiokiktjien, whose work focuses on identity, youth, and the long afterlife of political change through documentary photography and film.