The Swimmers is a new Netflix movie that tells the inspirational journey of teenage sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini. Based on a true story and directed by Sally El-Hosaini, the film stars Lebanese actress Manal Issa and her real-life sister Nathalie Issa as Sara and Yusra. It shows how the pair fled the Syrian civil war in 2015 and helped saved the lives of their fellow refugees while doing so. The amazingly, just a year after their perilous journey, Yusra competed in swimming events at the 2016 Rio Olympics as part of the Refugee Olympic team.
So here’s everything you need to know about the emotional one-off drama The Swimmers coming to Netflix in 2022...
The Swimmers release date
The Swimmers aunches on Netflix from Wednesday November 23 2022. It was previously shown in some cinemas from Friday November 11 2022. The Swimmers premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 8 2022.
Is there a trailer for The Swimmers?
Yes a trailer for The Swimmers was released by Netflix, just before its premiere at the Toronto film festival, which shows what an incredible journey the sisters had to make. Take a look below...
The Swimmers plot
Sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini fled their home country of Syria in 2015 when their house was destroyed during the civil war. They journeyed to Lebanon and then onto Turkey where they arranged to be smuggled into Greece on a dinghy. However, the refugees were in the middle of the Aegean Sea when the engine of the overcrowded dinghy cut out and the pair, plus two others who could swim, were responsible for saving the lives of those on board. Just a year after their harrowing experience Yusra competed in two swimming events at the Rio Olympics as part of the Refugee Olympic team.
The Swimmers cast — Manal and Nathalie Issa
Real-life sisters Manal and Nathalie Issa are playing the sibling roles in The Swimmers. Manal Issa plays Sara, while Nathalie Issa is Yusra. This is the first global role for both sisters.
Manal played Lina in the 2015 film Parisienne and starred in last year’s movie The Anger, about a young Lebanese girl who escapes from her small village and forms a relationship with a European man. She also starred in The Sea Ahead. Nathalie starred in the Syrian film My Favourite Fabric.
“The first time I received the offer for the role, I refused it because I couldn’t swim,” Manal Issa has revealed. But the sisters were given swimming lessons by the production team. “It was really hard at first, but then we persevered. And once you know how to float, it’s nice in the water and you want to freestyle, and once you have a goal, you want to achieve it.”
Who else is starring in The Swimmers?
The Good Karma Hospital actor James Krishna Floyd is also starring in The Swimmers. He previously acted under director Sally El Hosaini in the film My Brother The Devil. Ali Suliman (The Promise and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan) also appears in the movie as does Matthias Schweighöfer who plays swim coach Sven, Ahmed Malek plays fellow refugee Nizar (see him in the first look below), Carlotta De Gregori, Alfredo Tavares, Bridgitta Roy and Victoria Valcheva.
The true story behind Netflix movie The Swimmers
After growing up in a suburb of Damascus, Yusra and her older sister Sara Mardini fled Syria in August 2015 after their home was destroyed. When they got to Turkey they paid to be smuggled into Greece on a dinghy but the overcrowded vessel failed in the middle of the Aegean Sea.
The sisters and two others who could swim ended up swimming alongside the boat to stop it sinking until they reached Lesbos. Sara injured her shoulder on the journey and was forced to give up her swimming career. The schoolgirls settled in Berlin, with their parents who also escaped Syria, where Yusra continued her swimming training and competed in the 100m freestyle and the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Rio Olympics under the flag of the IOC Refugee Olympics team. She also competed in Tokyo in 2020. Sara returned to Greece to help other migrants arriving by sea but in 2018 she and 23 other humanitarian workers were arrested on a number of human-smuggling charges. Sara spent more than 100 days in jail but her arrest was dubbed farcical and she was backed by Amnesty International. A trial in November was postponed and the inquiry is still ongoing. Sara is living in Germany, where she was granted asylum.
Take a look at Yusra competing at the Rio Olympics in the clip of her race below....
Locations and behind the scenes
The Swimmers has been shot on location in Turkey, Belgium and the UK. It's co-written by Sally El Hosaini (Babylon, My Brother the Devil) and BAFTA winner Jack Thorne (Enola Holmes, Then Barbara Met Alan).
