An uplifting documentary about a group of courageous musicians who form a band in a West African refugee camp to keep their hope alive is the Bermuda International Film Festival's October Film Series presentation.

Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars will screen on Monday at 7.30 p.m. in the Tradewinds Auditorium at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.

The film, which won the documentary prize at the American Film Institute (AFI) Film Festival in Los Angeles, was shot on location in West African refugee camps. It tells the story of six Sierra Leonean musicians who face a daily struggle to keep their hope and music alive. The film is an inspiring story of survival and rebirth in the wake of the horrors of war, and a triumphant testament to the universal power of music.

The film is set against the backdrop of the devastating civil war in Sierra Leone. The war, which began in 1991, had mostly spared the country's capital of Freetown, where three of the musicians who eventually made up half of the Refugee All-Stars line-up, were working as professional musicians.

On January 6, 1999, the RUF rebels attacked Freetown as part of a campaign they called "Operation: Destroy Every Living Thing". There was a mass exodus out of Freetown, and the three musicians – and thousands more – made their way to a refugee camp in neighbouring Guinea.

The musicians put out a call within the camp for anyone interested in forming a band – and the Refugee All-Stars were born. They are a remarkably joyous, ragtag collective with a love for African High Life music and Bob Marley, and this documentary follows their performances while being shuffled among refugee camps, dreaming of a big break and struggling over repatriation to their homeland.

Tickets are $8 for BIFF Film Club members and $10 for non-members and can be reserved by e-mailing the festival at info[AT]biff.bm.