Netflix's powerful 'The Swimmers' trailer recreates Yusra and Sara Mardini's true story

"Swim for me. For everyone who died trying to find a new life. Swim for all of us."
 By 
Shannon Connellan
 on 
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A woman in a red tracksuit sits on a diving block of an indoor swimming pool.
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Netflix's emotional trailer for The Swimmers is here, from My Brother the Devil director Sally El Hosaini and Enola Holmes scribe Jack Thorne, both of whom wrote the screenplay.

The film, which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in early September, follows the real story of Syrian swimmers Yusra and Sara Mardini (played by Manal and Nathalie Issa). The Mardini sisters escaped the Syrian Civil War in 2015 and later debuted at the 2016 Rio Olympics as members of the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team. The film follows their long, precarious experience travelling to Turkey and across the Mediterranean with their cousin (Ahmed Malek) to Greece as refugees, all the way to their Olympic dreams.

The Swimmers is coming to select cinemas Nov. 11 and streaming on Netflix Nov. 23.

Topics Netflix Trailers

A photo portrait of a journalist with blonde hair and a band t-shirt.
Shannon Connellan
UK Editor

Shannon Connellan is Mashable's UK Editor based in London, formerly Mashable's Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives in the Creel House. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror.


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