Against the backdrop of Colonel Gaddafi’s attempted reconciliation with the West, this Pietra Brettkelly-directed doco captures a bizarre manifestation of the new international face of Libya: the predominantly Muslim country’s first beauty contest. In these excerpts, 24 unsure models arrive in Tripoli. As devout Muslim women watch on, and an English journalist struggles to contain incredulity, political realities emerge (eg military fatigues will be replacing bikinis). But will a requirement for contestants to wear Gaddafi t-shirts be a step too far for some?

Media satirist Jeremy Wells travels through Libya and coments on what he sees with his trademark impassive delivery. He dresses in traditional male garb, takes in Tripoli's ancient medina, dines in traditional Berber settlements, and journeys through the Jebel Nafusa highlands. On the way Wells rides an angry camel, complains about the lack of women, holds hands with a man, and recounts Colonel Gaddafi trivia, musing with deadpan gormlessness, "he must be nice because nobody seems to have a bad word to say about him."