‘London Recruits’ Lifts the Lid on True Story of Courageous British Volunteers in Fight Against Apartheid (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comThinus Ferreira Guest Contributor When the film biz jetset lands at O.R Tambo airport for this week’s 6th Joburg Film Festival they’d be amazed by a little-known story of how the airport’s namesake was the mastermind behind a plan to recruit ordinary British working-class volunteers to travel to South Africa and detonate pamphlet bombs in the 1970s during the height of Apartheid.
The fascinating story has been made into a thrilling documentary by director Gordon Main, “London Recruits,” featuring interviews with those who went, interspersed with Super 8 archive footage and dramatic reenactments.
It is the festival opener. Based on the 2012 book, the U.K.’s Barefoot Rascals teamed up with producer Robyn Slovo, daughter of Joe Slovo, who was a major figure in South Africa’s anti-Apartheid struggle, as well as Jacintha de Nobrega’s Arclight Productions in South Africa.
The result is an edge-of-your-seat documentary thriller set in the early 1970s, blending elements of espionage, courage, sacrifice and jaw-dropping twists, complete with false-bottom suitcases full of pamphlets. “I came across the story in an old, working-class boxing pub near the docklands in Cardiff.
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