The film follows the harrowing journey of two young sisters from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Egyptian-Welsh director Sally El-Hosaini’s drama The Swimmers will have its Middle East and North Africa premiere at the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), which will take place from November 13-22.
The Swimmers is produced by Working Title for Netflix. The film will release on Netflix on November 23.
Based on a true story, The Swimmers follows the journey from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Two young sisters embark on a harrowing journey as refugees, putting both their hearts and champion swimming skills to heroic use.
Starring Nathalie Issa, Manal Issa, Matthias Schweighöfer, Ahmed Malek, James Krishna Floyd, Elmi Rashid Elmi, Kinda Alloush and Ali Suliman. Directed and written by Sally El-Hosaini and co-written by screenwriter and playwright Jack Thorne. Produced by Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner alongside Ali Jaafar and Tim Cole with Stephen Daldry executive producing.
Amir Ramsis, Festival Director of Cairo International Film Festival, expressed his delight to have The Swimmers premiering in the Middle East and North Africa at the Cairo International Film Festival. He said: “The festival is committed to bringing high quality and impactful stories to the region. The inspirational and true story of the Mardini sisters film has received a lot of attention since it premiered at Toronto Film Festival and it is undoubtedly interesting that CIFF is bringing the film as part of its film selection. The Swimmers is one of the highly anticipated films showcasing at this year’s festival.”
El-Hosaini added: “It’s an honour to have our Middle East premiere at Cairo International Film Festival. And I’m thrilled to be returning to Cairo, the city of my childhood, to share the inspirational, true life story of the Mardini sisters.”
