A nice way to get Python strings to be that nice default Django template datetime format.

django_template_datetime_in_code.py

from django.template import defaultfilters
from django.utils import timezone

localtime = timezone.template_localtime(my_date)
template_style_date = defaultfilters.date(localtime, settings.DATETIME_FORMAT)

# settings.DATETIME_FORMAT is the Django default by default, but can be overwritten in your settings.py