N award-winning tribute to the unsung heroes of South Africa will screen as part of the Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF).

by Thomas Allen Harris honours a group of men who were willing to give their lives to see democracy established in South Africa, but whose efforts towards that fight have largely been overlooked.

"The film started in 2000 when I went for my stepfather's funeral," Mr. Harris explained. "We had a contentious relationship but at the funeral the mirror shattered and it had a profound impact on me. Suddenly I began to see him in context.

"Growing up I wanted a father and he was a revolutionary. At the funeral I started to view him as an adult rather than looking at him through a child's eyes."

Mr. Harris' stepfather, B. Pule Leinaeng (Lee), was one of 12 foot soldiers in the African National Congress (ANC) forced into exile shortly after the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre.

Mr. Leinaeng used that opportunity to inform the world of the brutality of the apartheid system. During the 30 years he lived as a refugee in the United States, he continued his activism, using the media to raise world support for the ANC and its leaders, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo.

"Bloemfontein is to South Africa what Mississippi is to America. It's full of conservative, die-hard racists ? these guys were in the belly of the beast. Two men at the funeral spoke of his involvement with the ANC, of the trauma they suffered on the six-month voyage they took from South Africa to Tanzania and the hurdles they had to overcome along the way," the film-maker said.

"I realised then, that I'd misjudged him. I also came to understand that he was a hero. I began to understand the tremendous amount of pressure a person suffers from being exiled from their homeland for 30 years.

"A lot of the guys suffered extreme trauma. I expect they thought they would leave but would still be able to come back while they were young but they were being persecuted for all that time."

Relying on his stepfather's archives and the memories of the disciples still alive today, Mr. Harris was able to recreate those past events, drawing on the talents of South African actors to illustrate some of them on film.

"Confronted by the death of his stepfather, director Thomas Allen Harris embarks on a journey of reconciliation with the man who raised him as a son but whom he could never call 'father'," a BIFF spokesperson explained.

"B. Pule Leinaeng was an ANC foot soldier who sacrificed his life for the freedom of his country. As part of the first wave of South African exiles, Lee and his 11 comrades left their home in Bloemfontein in 1960 ? just six months after the Sharpeville massacre ? to broadcast to the world the brutality of the apartheid system and to raise support for the ANC and its leaders, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo.

"Drawing upon the memories of the surviving disciples and their families, young South African actors portray the harrowing events of the exodus and exile and in so doing forge their own reconciliation between the generations."

The events demanded he make a film, explained Mr. Harris. The award-winning film-maker graduated from Harvard University with a biology degree and immediately went to work in television. , his third film, was lauded by the Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival where it was named Best Documentary.

"I realised I had to actually make a film about Lee and those guys. It's a tribute to unsung heroes. Many of them are very old. Two have since died since I began making the documentary. They chose to return home ? to this very conservative place ? after 30 years, and still found themselves fighting. Although apartheid had ended there were still economic disadvantages. The minority, people who had benefited economically through the Apartheid regime, still owned the majority."

Mr. Harris said the film is divided between his stepfather's experiences and his own, his aim to not to "create an historical piece" but "something that could activate young people".

"My father had this amazing archive ? of photos and radio shows. During his 30 years living in the United States as a refugee, he conducted his activism through the media and eventually became a UN anti-apartheid radio broadcaster. I was able to showcase him because he was kept alive through the archives he created over his lifetime.

"Even though our relationship was contentious, it wasn't like we weren't on speaking terms. I followed in his footsteps. I went to Harvard and studied biology, but my first job was as a film-maker, a television producer and I'm now communicating freedom to a new generation. In many ways the film is about opening my heart to him.

"I interviewed the seven guys that were alive. At first there was a little reluctance by some of the ones I did not know. They kept asking: 'Who is this guy? What's he gonna do?' But they knew my mom and she was a producer and eventually they responded to our support.

"I got to recreate the experience of what the beginning part of his exile was about. I got to educate people. Many thought the problems in South Africa started in 1976 with (the student uprisings in) Soweto. But these guys were the first trailblazers. Through the men I spoke with, I was able to understand the challenges they faced then and why they left. The ANC had just been banned with the Sharpeville Massacre. They had already been harassed and then the Ban to Education Act which outlawed the education of black people in South Africa, was put in place."

His stepfather returned to South Africa in 1995, Mr. Harris said, and died five years later. He feels his father would have been pleased with , recognising it as a tribute to his efforts.

"In terms of South Africa, a world of ancestors, I feel the film is blessed," he added. "It had three sold-out screenings at the Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival. I just won the Best Documentary Award there. It was nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards and will be broadcast on the Point of View series on PBS on October 3.

"I've gotten so much support ? financially, with regard to opportunities to screen, schools are buying the film. Because it is a documentary from a personal perspective, this amazing grassroots movement, everybody has a stake in the film. We all rallied against apartheid. We all told our Governments enough was enough. Most people focus on leaders ? mention the Civil Rights Movement, you think of Martin Luther King ? but there were thousands of others who put their lives on the line for years. So this is paying tribute to those unsung heroes who make any movement a success."