The movie Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, largely based on his autobiography of the same title, traces the life of the anti-apartheid icon from his childhood in the rural Eastern Cape to his election as the country's first black president in 1994.
Mandela is played by British actor, Idris Elba, and his then wife Winnie by Naomie Harris, who is also British.
The 95-year-old Mandela was too frail to attend the premiere as he is under medical care at home, having spent three months in hospital in a critical condition with a lung infection earlier this year.
His ex-wife Winnie Madikizela Mandela said she had "no words" to describe the film's "translation of that painful past".
"We should remember where we come from and that this freedom was hard earned and that it was won at a very, very heavy price," Madikizela Mandela said.
After spending 27 years in jail for activism against the racist regime, Mandela preached equality and forgiveness in the bitterly divided nation, winning him worldwide admiration as a peace icon.
The movie will hit South African cinemas on November 28 and will be released in the United States in December.
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