JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- South African Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson will star as Winnie Mandela in a film to be made in 2010 in South Africa, Ma-Afrika Films said on Friday.

    "Winnie" will tell the story of the controversial former wife of South Africa's first post-apartheid president Nelson Mandela, the South African Press Association reported.

    "I was compelled and moved when I read the script," Hudson said in a statement.

    "Winnie Mandela is a complex and extraordinary woman and I'm honored to be the actress asked to portray her. This is a powerful part of history that should be told."

    The film, a South African co-production between Ma-Afrika Films and Canadian production house Equinoxe Films, will be directed by award-winning SA filmmaker Darrell Roodt.

    "There is no better than Jennifer, the Academy Award-winning actress and Grammy Award-winning recording artist to tell Winnie's story," said Roodt in a statement.

    "Jennifer, an extraordinary talent in our time, has shown great insight in wanting to play this most challenging role."

    Shooting will begin on May 3 next year in Johannesburg, Cape Town, the Transkei and Robben Island.

    The screenplay, written by Andre Pieterse and Roodt, is based on the book "Winnie Mandela -- A Life" by Ann Mari du Preez Bezdrob. Pieterse produced the 1975 classic South African film "e'Lollipop".

    Roodt is famous for directing films such as "Sarafina" and "Yesterday".

    Hudson received an Oscar for her role in the film "Dreamgirls". She will be asked to perform the title song for Winnie.

    Born in Bizana, Pondoland in 1936, Nomzamo Nobandla Winnifred Madikizela-Mandela trained as a social worker and was a tireless anti-apartheid activist.

    In the worst years of apartheid, she was repeatedly detained, jailed and banished, and spent most of her married life without her husband, who was imprisoned on Robben Island for 27 years.

    She has courted controversy for her links to the kidnapping and murder of teenage activist Stompie Seipei, as well as fraud charges.

    Although she walked hand in hand with Nelson on the day he was freed from prison on Feb. 2, 1990, they separated by 1992.

    She has two daughters with him.