The Legends of Madiba: In Their Own Words

Doors: 5:00 PM
Remarks: 5:45 PM
Screening: 6:00 – 6:50 PM
Q&A: 6:50 – 7:20 PM

Join us for a rare opportunity to experience The Legends of Madiba: In Their Own Words, a powerful documentary celebrating Black South African jazz singers who created, performed, and resisted during the apartheid era (1948–1990s).

This special screening is presented in affiliation with Lido Pimienta: Love and Resistance, on view until May 31, and deepens the exhibition’s themes of artistic expression, resilience, and political defiance.

Presented by London, Ontario–based Juno Award–winning artist Lorraine Klaasen, alongside TD Curator of Collections Zahra McDoom, the film honours the lineage of Black women whose creativity sustained community, joy, and resistance in the face of systemic injustice.

About the Film
The Legends of Madiba: In Their Own Words celebrates five pioneering Black South African women in music and performance who helped keep the spirit of Nelson Mandela alive during apartheid. Hosted by Lorraine Klaasen, the film features South African jazz legend and her mother Thandie Klaasen, alongside Dolly Rathebe, Dorothy Masuku, Abigail Kubeka, and Sophie Mgcina.

Through intimate storytelling and archival footage, this documentary offers a moving tribute to the enduring relationship between creativity, love, and resistance—and to the women whose voices shaped a nation’s cultural and political history.