Country Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

Libyan cinema has rarely reached international screens, but Lion of the Desert (1980), the epic account of resistance leader Omar Mukhtar, stands as one of the most ambitious films ever produced with Libyan funding. Backed by Colonel Gaddafi's government and starring Anthony Quinn, it remains a striking case of a nation using cinema as national myth-making. See what Macca made of it below.