‘Tutu’ Documentary On Archbishop Desmond Tutu Premieres At Berlinale

South Africa’s apartheid system lasted for generations and, maintained with such brutality, it seemed invincible. One of those who played an important role in its unexpected demise was Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a religious leader and theologian.

He did more than pray alone.

“I am a person of peace but I am not a person who likes to fight,” the archbishop said at the beginning of the documentary Smokedirected by Sam Pollard, which makes its world premiere today at the Berlin Film Festival.

“He was a man of peace, but an activist,” Pollard explained. “And you can be a man of peace, and you can be an activist. He would challenge the status quo in South Africa – always. He wouldn’t stand by and let things continue the way they were for years and decades. And he didn’t say he wanted violence, but he was like Dr. King. He was a man who knew that the big impact and the long-term importance of helping a country without it could end a country that is not so important. Apartheid.”

The film examines the emergence of Archbishop Tutu as a leader of the anti-apartheid movement after the 1976 Soweto riots, the 1977 police killing of Steve Biko, and the long imprisonment of Nelson Mandela.

“He led the charge when Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. He was front and center in leading the way to end apartheid in South Africa and he reached beyond South Africa around the world to Great Britain, the United States, saying, ‘You need to support the end of apartheid in our country,'” Pollard told Deadline. “And I think part of the fact that he was not just an archbishop, but a Nobel [Peace Prize] the winner of the award really helped his message reach many places and many people.”

As the documentary explores, Tutu was not always aligned with Mandela’s African National Congress.

“His first faith was the foundation of everything about who he was,” Pollard emphasized. “And without that faith, he could have gone to the left, but he didn’t. He had his faith and he had faith in his countryman, no matter what your color was, that things can change. And that’s what made him so attractive. We miss someone like him today in our world. We need Desmond Tutu in our society today when countries and the world seem to be so broken.

Tutu had to deal with constant threats to his life and intense vitriol from many white South Africans who stuck to the system of white power and privilege.

“He was seen as a fanatic, just as Dr. King was seen as a fanatic. ‘How do you want to banish apartheid from your country? How could this man of the cloth talk like that?'” said Pollard. “In the sequence of the film when he becomes a Bishop we show some white people replying that he is not doing well, he shouldn’t be talking about these issues. That is against the whole idea of ​​what a man of God should be. He should speak truth to power. And that’s what he did. And his insults were probably part of what pressured him, and made him say, ‘We have to stop this. We have to change things in South Africa.'”

The key to his performance was his charm and ability to charm. Desmond Tutu’s smile brightened.

“He had a sense of humor,” the filmmaker noted. “He was able to talk to all people at all levels. This was a man who could disarm you. This was a man who spoke very well, who was able to make it clear without making you afraid. Although some people insulted him, he was able to make other people fall in love with him.”

Tutu explores the remarkable relationship between the archbishop and his wife, Nomalizo Leah Shenxane.

“Leah was a very important and powerful person in his life. One of the things we tried to do with this film was not only to talk about him as a man but also to talk about him as a husband and the close and personal relationship he had with Leah who was a fan and partner in his journey to rid the country of apartheid. You can see that this is not just a biopic, this is also a very beautiful story between Leah and Demond in the love of one story. The project was an opportunity to spend time with Leah when I was in South Africa, and getting his blessing to make this film about this person who is famous all over the world.”

Tutu continued his work of moral leadership after the fall of apartheid and the election of Mandela as the first president of a free South Africa. Mandela chose Tutu for the almost impossible task of chairing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a body – as its name suggests – meant to investigate crimes against humanity during the apartheid regime but also somehow to unite the new nation.

Tutu died in 2021 at the age of 90. He did not live to see President Donald Trump, in 2025, confront Mandela’s successor as South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, over the “genocide” of white South African farmers. The BBC is among journalists’ organizations that have described the claims as “utterly despicable.” Nevertheless, Trump has used those statements to grant asylum to white South African farmers in the US, while essentially barring non-whites from other parts of the world from entering America to avoid political persecution.

If Tutu were alive today, the archbishop would not confirm what Trump said, Pollard believes.

“He was laughing, and then it was a big laugh out of anger at the idea that white South Africans were being demonized and killed in South Africa,” Pollard said. “Maybe he could make a statement that would put the fact that this is really offensive… But listen, when Donald J. Trump talks about fake news, this is fake news, simple as that. And Tutu would say, this is offensive.”

Pollard is headed to the Berlinale as a film he produced, The Perfect Neighboris in the running for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards. He was nominated in that category in 1998 for producing 4 Little Girlsa film directed by Spike Lee about the Ku Klux Klan bombing of a church in Birmingham, AL in 1963 that claimed the lives of four black girls.

In addition to its world premiere today, Smoke screens at the Berlinale on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday.

“I’m really excited,” Pollard told us about the first game. “This is the first time that one of my films will be at the Berlin Film Festival. So, I’m looking forward to facing the cold, but to make the film seen by many, many, many, many people. I honestly think it’s the perfect festival to premiere our film about Desmond Tutu, an amazing and influential person in the world.”