CLIP FILM THE SWIMMERS PRODUCTION: GB 2022, Working Title Films DIRECTOR: Sally El Hosaini CAST: Nathalie Issra (Yusra Mardini), Manal Issra (Sarah Mardini), Ahmed Malek (Nizar), Matthias Schweighofer (Sven), James Krishna Floyd (Emad), Ali Suliman (Ezzat Mardini), Kinda Alloush (Mervat Mardini) SYNOPSIS The film presents the true story of teenage Syrian swimmers Yusra Mardini and her sister Sarah, who live with their mother and father Ezzat, who is also their swimming coach and dreams of watching them swim in the Olympics. The Syrian revolution against President Assad starts a civil war in the country, making their goal of swimming at the Olympics farther than ever. The girls are thinking to migrate to Germany as refugees to fulfil their dream; when Yusra s swimming venue is bombed during one of her competitions and Ezzat almost dies, he lets his daughters cross over to Germany with their cousin Nizar. They reach Istanbul, where Nizar finds a smuggler who promises to put them in Lesbos, an island in Greece, for 2,000 dollars per person. To their horror, the boat is an overcrowded rubber dinghy; halfway through, the boat starts filling with water and the motor cuts out. Sarah and Yusra jump into the water to keep the dinghy from sinking. They swim alongside the dinghy and, the next morning, they reach Greece. There, one man tells them that the Serbian police is fingerprinting refugees at the border. Nizar finds out that the German government is organising some buses to transport refugees directly to Germany. They manage to get on one of the buses and they reach Berlin, where they are taken to a refugee camp. Two months later, they are still waiting for their asylum papers. The two sisters travel to a local swimming club, where they meet coach Sven. Yusra convinces Sven to give her a chance by saying that she can do 100 metres butter y in 1.09 and he is impressed when he sees the sisters swim. He also decides to get the sisters a room at the swimming club, so they can leave the refugee camp. Sarah is told that her asylum request has been registered but will take two years to be granted; for this reason, she cannot make her parents migrate from Syria to Germany. Sven tells Yusra that the IOC has decided to form a refugee team for the Rio Olympic Games. Yusra can get into the team if her times improve. Therefore, the girl devotes herself to training. Sven works on Yusra s technique and brings her time into the Rio selection zone. Yusra gets her Olympics kit, while Sarah decides to go back to Lesbos and join a non-governmental organisation to help refugees. Yusra Mardini s swimming career sees her reaching the Rio 2016 Olympics as a member of the Refugee Olympic Team. Sarah comes to support Yusra at the Olympics, where she ends up winning her heat at the 100 metres butter y event. dinghy: gommone to fingerprint: schedare con le impronte digitali flagbearer: portabandiera to grant: concedere, rilasciare smuggler: trafficante 68 TO GO