BEHIND THE RAINBOW

Directed by Jihan El-Tahri

South Africa, 2009, 124 min.

Egyptian-born filmmaker Jihan El-Tahri’s documentary Cuba: An African Odyssey showed at the 2009 festival. In her new documentary, Behind the Rainbow, Ms. El-Tahri explores the transition of the African National Congress (ANC) from a liberation organization into South Africa’s ruling party, while following the evolving relationship between two of its most prominent leaders, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. In exile during the apartheid years, the men were brothers-in-arms; under Mandela, they loyally labored to build a non-racial state; today they face each other as bitter rivals. The film is an intimate behind-the-scenes look into their duel, one that threatens to tear apart the ANC and the country. In English.