EXCLUSIVE: Oscar nominee Sam Pollard’s documentary Tutu, about the late archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, will soon be arriving in theaters.
Freestyle Releasing plans to open the film in the U.S. on December 18. Tutu, winner of the Cinema for Peace Award at the 2026 Berlinale where it also earned a Special Mention for the festival’s Documentary Award, opens in the UK on December 11. It examines the life and work of the Archbishop of Cape Town who became a leading figure in the successful effort to dismantle South Africa’s racist Apartheid policies and bring down the white supremacist regime.
“Desmond Tutu was more than an Archbishop, he was a moral compass, a fearless champion of justice and a global beacon of hope,” notes a release. “Tutu is a powerful feature documentary that reveals the man behind the iconic voice through never-before-seen archival footage and first-hand accounts from those who walked beside him. The film traces Tutu’s rise as the unwavering voice of the oppressed.
“But behind the public figure and global icon lies an intimate love story: the extraordinary partnership between Desmond and Leah Tutu. In the face of brutality, he stood resolute, guided by faith, fueled by hope and driven by an unshakable belief in the humanity of all people. At its heart, this is a story of the transformative power of forgiveness, a message from which Tutu never wavered.”
Pollard’s directing credits include The Lorraine; MLK/FBI; Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (co-directed with Geeta Gandbhir; Citizen Ashe (co-directed with Rex Miller); Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me, and many other films. He earned an Oscar nomination for producing the 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls, directed by Spike Lee, and he served as executive producer on The Perfect Neighbor, directed by Geeta Gandbhir, which earned an Academy Award nomination earlier this year.
Pollard said of Tutu, “This film is my way of bringing audiences an intimate portrait that allows Desmond Tutu to speak directly to viewers in his own words and on his own terms. I wanted Tutu’s voice to be the heartbeat of the story, to let his humanity, humor and moral conviction lead us through his world. Working with the remarkable footage captured by filmmakers like Roger Friedman and Benny Gool, who spent over two decades with Tutu, we discovered an extraordinary intimacy. Through their lens, we could step into Tutu’s inner life: his faith and fragility, his joy and the weight he carried beneath it.”
Tutu is produced by Emmy Award winner Johnny Webb (Zurawski V. Texas; How Saba Kept Singing) for HiddenLight, Emmy nominee Ellie Phillips (The Million Pound Shaman Scam) and Beya Kabelu. Paul Trewartha (Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation; Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants To Live Forever; Branson) is story producer and editor. Executive producers include Sam Pollard, Ricardo Pollack, Niclas Kjellström Matseke (Chairman of The Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation), Richard Branson, Sam Branson, Cristina Ljungberg, Dr. Kop Matseke, Dr. Ayanda Ntsaluba, Jens von Bahr, Shannon Sedgwick Davis, Universal Pictures Content Group, and Trevor Noah and Sanaz Yamin for Day Zero Productions.
At the Berlin Film Festival in February, where Tutu held its world premiere, Pollard told Deadline, “[Archibishop Tutu] was going to challenge the status quo in South Africa — always. He wasn’t going to stand by and let things just continue the way they had been for so many years and decades. And he wasn’t saying that he wanted violence, but he was like Dr. King. He was a man who knew that the impact and the importance of non-violent resistance could go a long way in helping a country rid itself with such a racist regime.”
The filmmaker added, “He reached out beyond South Africa globally to Great Britain, to the United States, to basically say, ‘You need to support getting rid of Apartheid in our country.’ And I think part of the fact that he was not only an archbishop, but the Nobel [Peace Prize] laureate helped really have his message reach so many, many places and people.”
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