Beauty Will Save the World (2003)

2003-01-151h 3m

BEAUTY WILL SAVE THE WORLD charts the journey of 19 year old Tecca Zendik, a contestant in the Miss Net World contest, Libya's first every beauty competition. Colonel Muammar Qaddafi hosts this competition and the film includes extraordinary footage of the Colonel. Tecca's story reveals an incredible conclusion no-one could have guessed when private jests transported the beauties to the country feared by the West in the 1980's.

Related Movies

1248346-thumbnail

Le soleil a pas d'chance (1975)

1252733-thumbnail

The Bikini Open 5 (1991)

THE BIKINI OPEN is a special-event, retro series featuring the best swimsuit, fitness, bikini, and modeling competitions from the early 90s.

42649-thumbnail

The Queen (1968)

In 1967, New York City is host to the Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant. This documentary takes a look behind the scenes, transporting the viewer into rehearsals and dressing rooms as the drag queen subculture prepares for this big national beauty contest. Jack/Sabrina is the mistress of ceremonies, and their protégé, Miss Harlow, is in the competition. But, as the pageant approaches, the glamorous contestants veer from camaraderie to tension.

1269989-thumbnail

Blackpool, Harden and Grange-over-Sands (1968)

A colourful miscellany of footage from both sides of the Pennines.

912941-thumbnail

Route 4 (2021)

1290465-thumbnail

Sarkozy-Gaddafi: The Scandal of All Scandals (2025)

A democracy and a dictatorship. A presidential campaign and dirty money. War and death. When Nicolas Sarkozy affirmed in the press that “No one can make sense of it”, he was trying to discredit the investigation into his ties with Muammar Gaddafi, portraying it as a bunch of gibberish. As Sarkozy and his many accomplices go on trial in the Libyan campaign financing affair, here’s the film that will finally explain all of the ins and outs of one of the most remarkable French political scandals in decades.

697293-thumbnail

The Pageant (2020)

Every year since 2011, a unique beauty contest has been taking place in Haifa. The contestants are female survivors of the Holocaust. In the midst of this flashy spectacle, their personal traumas remain as deep as ever. There are many things about this contest that are controversial: it is organized by the right Zionist organization, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, and the dubious contest itself rises the public indignation of various speakers, including other survivors.

960669-thumbnail

American Royalty (2022)

The American Royalty docuseries showcases an in-depth perspective of the Miss America Pageant. Experience the hundred year history, influence, controversy, and evolution of this iconic institution.

119455-thumbnail

Shadows of a Leader: Qaddafi's Female Bodyguards (2004)

The documentary investigates the phenomenon of Qaddafi's elite female bodyguard corps and the tensions these women embody: tensions between Islam, modernisation in a nomadic society, a militarist feminism and an urban dictatorship.

130750-thumbnail

The World Before Her (2012)

Moving between two extremes - the intimate verite drama of the Miss India pageant's rigorous beauty "bootcamp" and the intense regime of a militant Hindu fundamentalist camp for young girls. The World Before Her delivers a provocative portrait of India and its current cultural conflicts during a key transitional era in the country's modern history.

781205-thumbnail

Beauty of Fatherland (2001)

The documentary observes two matriarchs - Tiina Jantson governs the beauty contest empire in Estonia; Anne Eenpanu leads the activities of "Home Daughters" - a girls' corps of Estonian Defence League. The film's main characters and their activities are very different. Whereas Anne's pedagogical approach is almost totally based on the love for fatherland then Tiina spends her days in the glitter of show business. However, there are some similiarities in their lives. The documentary studies the values, gender roles and moral norms in Estonia at the beginning of 21st century.

378868-thumbnail

The Colonel's Stray Dogs (2021)

In 1981, seven Libyan exiles formed the core opposition group to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Thirty years later, they are back to their country only to inherit the mess he left. The film is an intricate blend of rare first-hand accounts, propaganda archival material turned on its head, evocative cinematography and an untold history of a country.

764000-thumbnail

Peladão - Elf Freunde und eine Königin (2006)

Every year the biggest and craziest soccer tournament is held in Brazilian State of Amazonas: The Peladão. More than 1000 soccer teams compete against each other. But it's not all about soccer: female beauty plays a vital role: every team has to present a beauty queen that can bring back her team into the tournament if it gets eliminated. All she has to do is to reach the semi finals of the tournament's beauty contest...

173343-thumbnail

Lady Kul El-Arab (2007)

Angelina-Duah Fares, a Druze woman, attempts to enter the Israeli fashion world, but traditions clash with her efforts to choose her way in life.

140847-thumbnail

Miss Navajo (2012)

The role of women and tradition in Dine (Navajo) culture is explored through a young girl's quest for the Miss Navajo Nation crown.

100672-thumbnail

Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen (2001)

Documentary about the subculture of child beauty pageants (usually restricted to girls no older than 5), showing the lengths to which some parents will go to ensure that their children win these pageants...

805606-thumbnail

The Hunt for Gaddafi's Billions (2020)

In life, the Libyan leader ruled with an iron fist for 42 years and treated Libya's wealth as his own. He died the richest man on the planet with a fortune of $150 billion. A dictatorial leader in life, the spell of Gaddafi's money remained in place after his death, triggering a ruthless race to find his missing billions. Two journalists pick up the trail of a mysterious $12.5 billion in cash, flown out of Libya in the dead of night just months before Gaddafi's demise.

1206560-thumbnail

Donga (2023)

“There was excitement in the air,” says Donga, now in his late twenties, describing his feelings when the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi’s rule broke out in 2011. He was 19, living in Misrata, and boldly went to film the fighting with a friend. A decade later, in a hotel in Istanbul, where he has been living since he was wounded in battle, he looks back on the past ten years through excerpts from his videos. And he reflects on how that period has affected him.

824079-thumbnail

You are Not a Soldier (2021)

As filmmaker Maria Carolina Telles comes to terms with the death of her father, a man who regretted never making it to the frontlines of World War II, she focuses her lens on the life of another man who had his own unique experience as a civilian in the midst of combat: award-winning war photographer André Liohn.

1226924-thumbnail

Crowned Species (2013)

A journalistic investigation, built not on rumors and assumptions, but on direct evidence, revealing the true mechanisms of podium coronations. Hidden camera footage of negotiations with the owners of the largest national beauty contests and an attempt to answer the question of why these people are not yet in prison. Famous people on the jury are not a guarantee of fair judging. Irrefutable evidence of the corruption of the so-called “stars” who elect the next Miss and Mrs. The collection and subsequent theft of funds for charity is a side business of the owners of fraudulent shows. What actually awaits the titled Misses after purchasing the prize? And what do children's beauty pageants turn out to be like for young participants?