Egypt, South Africa and France / 2006 / 118mins / Documentary / French, English, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish

From Che Guevara's military campaign to avenge Lumumba in the Congo up to the fall of apartheid in South Africa, 300,000 Cubans fought alongside African revolutionaries. Cuba: An African Odyssey is the previously untold story of Cuba's support for various African revolutions, one of the Cold War's most vigorous contests over resources and ideology. This film attempts to understand the world today through the saga of these Cuban internationalists who won every battle but ultimately lost the war.

Jihan El-Tahri

Jihan el-Tahri is an Egyptian writer, director, and producer. After receiving a degree in political science from the American University in Cairo, she worked as a news correspondent for British and American newspapers, covering the Middle East and Africa. She has authored, directed and produced award-winning documentary films, and books and reported on political conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. In 1990, El-Tahri began directing and producing documentaries for French television and international broadcasters. Her produced and directed documentaries, including the award-winning film Behind the Rainbow. She also produced and directed the acclaimed documentary Cuba: An African Odyssey and the Emmy-nominated House of Saud. Her 2014 Egypt's Modern Pharaohs, a trilogy of films about former Egyptian presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak, was funded by a grant through the Doha Film Institute. Jihan's other accomplishments include being a member of the Executive Bureau of FEPACI (Federation of Pan-African Cinema) and the Secretary General of the Guild of African filmmakers in the Diaspora. Learn More