A little girl named Jihan appears on a blurry home video, playing a few bars of Beethoven at the piano. Her mother then shows her a picture of her missing father and asks what she would say if he could hear her. “I would say I love him a lot, and I want him back now,” the little girl replies.
That’s the opening scene of “My Father and Qaddafi,” a 90-minute documentary directed by Jihan K (full name, Jihan Kikhia) premiering at the Venice International Film Festival, which begins Wednesday and runs through Sept. 6. The film is about growing up as the daughter of Mansour Kikhia, an exiled leader of the opposition against the Libyan dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. He was abducted in December 1993 and never seen by his family again.
Weaving family photos and home videos with news footage and in-person interviews, the documentary is both a daughter’s quest for the truth, and a potted contemporary history of Libya: from decades of brutal Italian occupation, to decades of ruthless Qaddafi rule, to a nation split between rival, hostile governments.
There are surreal moments along the way, such as when the director’s mother is invited to meet Qaddafi — the mastermind of her husband’s disappearance — in his desert tent.
Jihan K, who divides her time between South Asia, the Middle East and Europe, discussed her father and her film in a recent video call from Sri Lanka. The conversation has been edited and condensed.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The post A Director’s Quest for the Truth About Her Father’s Abduction appeared first on New York Times.
