Naman Ramachandran Sally El Hosaini’s refugee drama “The Swimmers” will open the 47th Toronto International Film Festival.The film follows the journey made by swimming sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini who fled as refugees from war-torn Syria all the way to the 2016 Rio Olympics.In 2015, after their house was destroyed in the Syrian Civil War, the Mardini sisters decided to flee the country.

They made their way to Lebanon and then Turkey, where they arranged to be smuggled into Greece by dinghy. In the middle of the Aegean Sea, the motor of the dinghy, overcrowded with refugees, cut out, and the Mardini sisters and others who could swim, ensured the safety of the passengers.The film is based on a screenplay by El Hosaini and BAFTA winner Jack Thorne (“Help”).

The roles of Yusra and Sarah Mardini are played by Lebanese sisters Manal and Nathalie Issa (“My Favourite Fabric”). Manal Issa won best actress at the Les Arcs European Film Festival for “Parisienne” (2015).The cast also includes “My Brother the Devil” lead James Krishna Floyd, Ahmed Malek (“About Her”), Matthias Schweighöfer (“The Break Up Man”), Ali Suliman (“200 Meters”), Kinda Alloush (“Except Me”) and Elmi Rashid Elmi (“Trying”).Welsh-Egyptian writer and director El Hosaini’s feature debut “My Brother the Devil” (2013) premiered at Sundance, winning the world cinema cinematography dramatic prize and also securing El Hosaini the best British newcomer prize at the BFI London Film Festival and best European film at the Berlinale.The film is produced by Working Title’s Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan, former Variety contributor Ali Jaafar (“King of Thieves”) and Tim Cole (“Wild Bill”).

‘The Swimmers’ Refugee Drama to Open Toronto Film Festival

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