'Pride' Tells The True Story Of An Unlikely Alliance

In 1984, British coal miners called a bitter national strike which then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was determined to break.

But the miners found unexpected allies in London's gay and lesbian community who formed the group Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners.

The group raised thousands of pound for the miners and their families and formed bonds of friendship that lasted even though the miners eventually lost the strike.

That story is now being told in the new film "Pride."

Screenwriter Stephen Beresford told Here & Now's Robin Young after seeing a film made by Lesbians and Gays Support the Miner, he contacted the original group members through Facebook and began his research.

“There was somebody on there called Reggie Blennerhassett," Beresford said."So I had a look on Facebook and there he was. I sent him a message and said, ‘Were you in Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners in 1984,’ and this message came straight back, and he said, ‘I haven’t been asked that question for 30 years, but yes I was, and how can I help you?’

"Bit by bit, I started to meet the key people and debriefed them for their stories," Beresford said.

After reading the script, director Matthew Warchus connected to the story because he grew up in a village similar to the one where the film is set.

“One of the first things that struck me was how authentic the village in Wales felt," Warchus said. "It doesn’t rely on clichés."

Warchus says the collaboration between the unlikely groups is an important message in "Pride."

“The efforts of these combined communities, the things they did together when they met have a legacy that lives on," Warchus said. "And that’s one of the things that’s incredibly uplifting and empowering.”