London Recruits
classified 18 (CTBA)By the late 1960s, the Apartheid regime in South Africa had reached brutal new heights. Nelson Mandela and other freedom fighters had been imprisoned, killed or forced into exile. The African National Congress (ANC) was outlawed and broken, from the leadership through to the township cells.
In efforts to reinvigorate support for the liberation struggle, exiled ANC leader Oliver Tambo lit the fuse on a plan that saw young British women and men undertake missions on the ground in South Africa disguised as honeymooners, holiday makers and business trippers.
Winner of Best Documentary at the 2024 Johannesburg Film Festival, London Recruits is a nail-biting documentary thriller - combining never before seen archive footage, action packed drama and candid testimony from the recruits who risked it all in taking on one of the 20th century’s most feared and brutal regimes.
This one-off screening is hosted in partnership with Bristol Radical History Group, and will be followed by a Q&A with the film's director Gordon Main and one of the 'recruits' Bevis Miller, hosted by Michelle Pascal.