Sally El Hosaini’s The Swimmers is to open the 18th Zurich Film Festival, which runs from September 22-October 2.
The Working Title film for Netflix is based on the true story of the Mardini sisters – talented swimmers who embark on a difficult journey as refugees from Syria, to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Lebanese actors and sisters Manal and Nathalie Issa will play the leads.
Welsh-Egyptian filmmaker El Hosaini – a Screen Star of Tomorrow 2009 – also wrote the feature, which is co-written by Jack Thorne. Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner produced alongside Ali Jaafar and Tim Cole.
The real-life Sara and Yusra Mardini and their swimming coach Sven Spannenkrebs will attend the festival, alongside El Hosaini and cast Nathalie Issa and Matthias Schweighöfer.
The Swimmers will receive its world premiere as the opening film at Toronto (September 8-18).
El Hosaini’s previous credits include her debut, Sundance best cinematography winner My Brother The Devil.
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