Long Distance Swimmer: Sara Mardini
The Sporting Life
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1h 34m
Directed by Charly Wai Feldman • Documentary • 2023 • 89 minutes
At 20, Sara was already famous. She fled Syria in 2015 with her younger sister Yusra. When their boat broke down as they were crossing the sea to Greece, Sara and Yusra and two others jumped into the waves and swam for three and a half hours in open water to stop their dinghy from capsizing, saving the lives of everyone on board. Their journey made headlines around the world, and is dramatized in a Netflix film called The Swimmers. Our story begins when the fictionalized drama ends. Sara has spent three years rescuing refugees on the same journey that made her famous, but she was suddenly arrested on August 2018. Sara was accused by Greek authorities of running a criminal enterprise and charged with “international espionage and people smuggling”. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison and the end of her humanitarian career. Banned from Lesbos and waiting for news of the trial, she lives a surreal existence in Berlin.
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