Bringing history to life
A celebration of the fully restored Rivonia Trial Sound Archive
The invitation - with a newspaper front page
NMF
New technology and a collaboration bringing history back to life
The evening started with a dramatic theatre performance in the garden of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and later, parts of an award winning new documentary were shown as well. During the multi media event, representatives of the South African and the French institutions who had worked closely together in this project jointly shared the story behind their historic collaboration. The inventor who had created a special device which made it possible to digitalise the old recordings, thereby preserving them and making them accessible to all of us, spoke about the technical background and shared how he and his team were motivated by the immense importance of this project.
Ahmed Kathrada, Rivonia trialist and close friend of Nelson Mandela
Wikimedia Commons, Senator Christopher Coons
Voices from the past - enlightening and encouraging us
Experts from the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa (NARSSA) and the French National Audiovisual Institute (INA) spoke at the event, as did a representative from the French Embassy and from Wits University. "It is through access, dialogue and imagination that we can build a future that builds on our past" said Limpho Monyamane from the Nelson Mandela Foundation. A recording of Ahmed Kathrada from the Trial days in 1964 which was played during the presentations shows how he bravely and wittily managed to use his incredible sense of humour even during this dark time to educate and to entertain, to encourage and to resist.
Numerous big South African papers, magazines and radio stations covered this event extensively - read some of their articles which give a sense of the very lively presentations and the moving reflections that characterised the evening:
https://www.kayafm.co.za/the-rivonia-trial-records-go-digital/
Several national TV channels also covered the event in some detail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDnhC6IiIrg
The event was accompanied by a large social media echo as well. The Nelson Mandela Foundation published a short video which allows you to experience the spirit of the evening - watch it here:
https://twitter.com/nelsonmandela/status/1045641183609999360?s=12