The critically acclaimed and highly anticipated South African feature-length film titled, ‘An Act of Defiance’, directed by Jean van de Velde, centres on the relationship between Bram and his wife Molly Fischer during the well-known 1963-64 Rivonia Trial. Fischer formed a part of the defence’s legal team, alongside Joel Joffe, who was the instructing attorney, Vernon Berrange, Arthur Chaskalson, and George Bizos.

They were representing ten men who were members of the armed wing of the ANC, known as, uMkhonto weSizwe, who were accused of sabotage by the state. The men included Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Lionel Bernstein, Ahmed Kathrada, and Walter Sisulu.

OFM News spoke to Bloemfontein-raised actress, Antoinette Louw, who plays Fischer’s wife in the highly anticipated feature-length film, to gain insight into her creative process ahead of shooting the film and to gauge what meaning being a part of the project had for her. Louw says she wanted this role badly because she felt a deep connection to the Fischer family’s story. In preparing for the role, she read up on this part of history and also spoke to Ruth Fischer, who is the couple’s eldest daughter. “Storytelling has the ability to burst open a person’s heart and mind. It would be a gift to Bloemfonteiners to go watch this film.”

The accused were arrested in July 1963. Nine of them were apprehended during a police raid on a farm in Rivonia on the outskirts of Johannesburg. The tenth man – Mandela – was arrested separately thereafter. Louw stresses while the film takes place during the Rivonia Trial it focuses more on the sacrifices that were made by Fischer and his family.

Fischer was educated at Grey College in Bloemfontein and attended the University of the Free State before receiving the Rhodes Scholarship to pursue postgraduate studies at the Oxford University.

OFM News