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Manal Issa

Nathalie Issa

Matthias Schweighöfer

Ali Suliman

James Floyd

Ahmed Malek

Kinda Alloush

Nahel Tzegai

Carlotta De Gregori

Victoria Valcheva

Sue King-Spear

Bridgitta Roy

Dritan Kastrati

Alfredo Tavares

Daniel Eghan

Roderick Hill

Mudar Abbara

Ekran Mustafa

Giorgio Spiegelfeld

Elmi Rashid Elmi

Sally El Hosaini

Jack Thorne

Tim Bevan

Jeremy Burnage

Stephen Daldry

Eric Fellner

Ali Jaafar

Shaheen Baig

Leanne Kathuda

Patrick Rolfe

Molly Emma Rowe

Tania Blunden

Hussain Ahmed

Freddie Hall

Adam Morris

Daniel Budd

Agnes Debinska

Jim Grindley

Regina Lujan

Rachel Rolfe

Elo Soode

Bart Tuft

Ocean Farini

Kashca Garwood-Walker

James Kirby

Eduardo Rodrigalvarez

Harriet Stovold

Charlotte Wright

Kirsten Lane

Neil Cairns

Katherine Pomfret

Iain Kitching

Christopher Ross

Steven Price

Antoinette Aderotoye

Lisa Mustafa

Zoe Freed

Glenn Freemantle

Rebecca Heathcote

Glen Gathard

Leslee Feldman

Abla Khoury

CinemaSerf

Two young sisters - Sara (Manal Issa) and Yusra (Nathalie Issa) are obsessed with representing their Syrian nation at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Their father is their coach and their mentor, and he drives them hard - but that might all prove to be for nought when a bomb comes crashing through the roof of their swimming pool and only narrowly avoids killing someone! Scared but determined, the family decide to enlist the help of their charismatic cousin Nizar (Ahmed Malek) and armed with some borrowed cash try to get from their home to Germany where they hope to find safety and continue their training. Thing is, they have no papers so after a brief flight to Istanbul, find themselves in the hands of the people smugglers who care little for their safety. Much of this interesting film is quite tough to watch, as it depicts the efforts of the three to beat the elements and the authorities to reach their goal - at times at quite considerable risk to themselves. It's all based on a true story so there is no actual jeopardy to their journey, but it is illustrative of just how perilous the whole process is; of how venal and exploitative some people can be of those in life-threatening predicaments and also of just how persevering the human spirit can be when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. It features a fine supporting effort from "Sven" (Matthias Schweighöfer) and offers us quite a well produced and paced observation on just how these two girls got through their ordeal. The photography is frequently intimate and that sometimes exposes us to the character traits of the girls that are less attractive to the viewer - but somehow that added to the authenticity of this compelling dramatisation that defiantly opens the eyes!

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Manal Issa

Nathalie Issa

Matthias Schweighöfer

Ali Suliman

James Floyd

Ahmed Malek

Kinda Alloush

Nahel Tzegai

Carlotta De Gregori

Victoria Valcheva

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