US, UK 2004, 59 min, SDA Wondermaker Labs Production
by Rania Ajami
REQUEST A SCREENING Qaddafi's Female Bodyguards
This documentary investigates the phenomenon of Qaddafi's elite female bodyguard corps and the tensions these women embody between Islam, modernization in a nomadic society, militarist feminism and of course tensions of an urban dictatorship.What sort of life did these women lead, what was their political position, and how has it evolved? The female guards in Libya were unique as modern Islamic women challenging Western stereotypes of the repressed Arab female. Using original and archival footage, and being the first to be allowed access to sites and persons in Libya, this two-year effort went beyond existing representations of the Muslim woman by elucidating and criticizing a complicated ideal of a modern day Amazon warrior.
Mideast Film Festival, African Diaspora Film Festival, Avignon Film Festival, Festival du Film de Strasbourg, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (Winner Best Doc), Raindance Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival (Kodak Emerging Filmmakers)