South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation hearings, which tackled the injustices of apartheid, are the subject of a new movie by British director John Boorman.
In My Country stars Samuel L Jackson and Juliette Binoche and it recreates the hearings that investigated human rights violations.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was created 10 years ago to investigate human rights violations under apartheid. It involved perpetrators confessing to their victims.
"It was emotionally draining to do it because the actors who were playing the parts of the victims had often been victims themselves," said Boorman, who previously directed Hope and Glory and The Emerald Forest.
"As the thing went on and we had extras playing the audience, their stories came out and it was overwhelming."
'Dissatisfied with coverage'
Jackson said he took on the role partly because he had South African friends who had lived through apartheid.
"I knew about the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and I was kind of dissatisfied with the news coverage of them," he says.
"Hopefully this film will let people know what happened."
"It's a news story we know something about, but we don't know enough about"
In the film's foreground is a political love story between Jackson as a US journalist covering the hearings and Binoche as a South African also reporting on the proceedings for radio.
Each has very different views on South Africa's past and In My Country aims to show how the hearings found a way forward.
Binoche, who has also starred in Chocolat and The English Patient, said the new movie "puts up questions".
"Is it the circle of revenge after revenge after revenge, or is it about trying to hear and not repeat the past and try to reconcile and find a way through it?" she said.
'Remained faithful'
Jackson said the UK director has remained faithful to the South African story.
"John deals with human rights issues in his films," he added.
"He is able to get inside a character and get inside a story and shoot it so people will be able to understand it in this particular part of the world."
And the actor recognised that such films could be a "hard sell" at the box office despite dealing with important issues.
"Well it's a news story we know something about, but we don't know enough about," he said.
"Hopefully if enough people see it and there's word of mouth, more people will come to see it."
In My Country is released in the US on 11 March.
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