Through historical archive footage, testimonies, and personal reflections, the documentary My Father and Qaddafi (2025), directed by American-Libyan Jihan K, retraces her pursuit of truth and justice in the disappearance and death of her father Mansur Rashid Kikhia — Libya’s former foreign minister, UN ambassador, human rights defender, and peaceful political opponent of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
The deeply personal 90-minute documentary premiered in the Out of Competition - Non-fiction section at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival, followed by special screenings in Florence at the annual Middle East Now festival, and in Milan at Cinema Godard.
Jihan K was only six years old when her father was abducted, and she often recalls in interviews that her memories of him are faint. For two decades, it was her mother, Baha Al Omary, a Syrian visual artist and naturalised American, who kept Mansur's memory alive among their children.
“To me, she was the source of most of all the truths about my father. She always had all the stories and was on the frontline,” Jihan K told The New Arab, elaborating on how the documentary came together.
The daughter’s voice is often heard alongside her mother’s, highlighting the real-life events that led the family into a complex political search for her father's whereabouts.
According to Jihan K, it took her nine years to complete the documentary, her first feature-length film.
“My life started to change from the moment I decided to make the film," said Jihan K, who now divides her time between the US, South Asia, and Europe.
"I wasn't attached to a fixed idea of success — I just wanted to make sense of my life and my father, and I chose filmmaking as the vehicle. I knew it was complicated, I knew it was heavy, and I knew I had to really manage my expectations.”
Through a daughter’s personal lens
The disappearance of Mansur remains one of Libya’s most puzzling mysteries.
On 10 December 1993, he was taken from a hotel in Cairo, where he had gone to attend a meeting of the Arab Organization for Human Rights Board of Trustees.
He was never seen again, but in October 2012 — after the regime’s downfall following the Arab Spring of 2011 — his body was found inside a refrigerator near Gaddafi’s palace in Libya.
Seeing her father’s fate confirmed, Jihan K decided to make the film when his body was found.
“I did not want my father to disappear again," she explains.
"The first time was when I was six years old. But when his body was found, I was 25 and could respond differently. Maybe I could finally do something about it.”
Through her documentary, Jihan K sought to move beyond the myth, portraying her father as a unifying figure for Libya, with a calm, friendly demeanour and a shy presence.
Ultimately, the documentary becomes a personal portrait of a complex father, filled with both tenderness and pain.
It blends these intimate family moments with historical archival material, including Mansur speaking at the UN, previously unseen videos of the family living between Paris and New York, and insightful interviews with friends and colleagues who knew him personally.
These glimpses into his private life are set against the backdrop of Mansur’s extensive political career.
He had been involved in Libyan politics since the monarchy, and after the 1969 coup that brought Gaddafi to power, he held important government positions.
Born in Benghazi in 1931 and holding a degree in International Law from Paris-Sorbonne University, Mansur served as Libya's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1972 to 1973.
He later served as Libya's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations between 1975 and 1980, establishing himself as a prominent politician at both the Arab and international levels.
In 1980, he resigned from his position in the Libyan government in opposition to Gaddafi’s regime and in protest against the government’s use of summary executions carried out at the time by so-called revolutionary committees.
He then went into exile in the US, where he married Baha. Having relocated to New York early in her career, Baha, who studied Fine Arts in Damascus and Baghdad, sold her artworks in private galleries across the US and at the UN.
After Baha gave birth to the couple’s first child, Rashid, the family — which also included Baha’s daughters from a previous marriage, Maya and Bisan — moved to Paris, France, where Jihan K was born in 1987.
“At that time, my father was not politically aligned with the US government’s foreign policy in the Arab world; he was very sceptical,” she clarifies.
“After living in New York City for ten years, he decided to move the family and his political work to Paris, where he felt more comfortable and better connected.”
Mansur was not only a senior Libyan diplomat but also a human rights activist and the secretary-general of the Libyan National Alliance, a foreign-based opposition group he established in exile. He is considered one of the first Libyan figures to use human rights work as a tool for change.
Important questions
Upon reflection, My Father and Qaddafi reveals the strain in Jihan K’s relationship with her father.
At the same time, the film traces Libya’s troubled history — from colonial rule to Gaddafi’s authoritarian regime, which dismantled formal institutions and exiled opposition groups.
Through this lens, the documentary raises important questions: “What does it mean to be Libyan? Without Gaddafi, without the politics, without the fear?” she asked The New Arab.
Her father, Mansur, was honoured by the Libyan Foreign Ministry with a funeral in Benghazi and a memorial service in his hometown on 3 December 2012, attended by friends and family.
Reflecting on that time, Jihan K describes it as “a unique and special period in the history of Libya," and "a small window when that miracle could happen.”
But peace was short-lived: renewed tensions between opposing factions and the rise of powerful militias triggered a second civil war in 2014 that lasted several years.
Jihan K, who studied International and Comparative Politics at the American University of Paris and completed her master’s at NYU’s Gallatin School, last visited Libya in 2019.
The documentary concludes with sombre scenes at her father’s grave in a cemetery near Benghazi, which appears largely empty due to safety concerns.
For Libyans in the diaspora, identity is rooted in shared myths, memories, and a sense of belonging. By reclaiming her father’s story, Jihan K was able to rebuild her own life.
My Father and Qaddafi was screened at the MEDFilm Festival in Rome, running from 6 to 16 November 2025, where it won the Valentina Pedicini Award.
Elisa Pierandrei is an Italian journalist and author based in Milan. She writes and researches stories across art, literature, and the visual media. Elisa holds a master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the American University in Cairo (2002), after graduating in Arabic Language and Literature at Ca' Foscari University in Venice (1998)
Follow her on X: @ShotOfWhisky