The story of the struggle of an Egyptian heroine.. now on Netflix
The Egyptian weightlifter, Asma Ramadan, known as "Zabiba", cheered the runners participating in a marathon held on the occasion of the screening of the movie "Long Live Captain", which narrates her achievements despite the many difficulties she faced.
The award-winning film, now showing on Netflix, highlights what poor girls face in the world of professional weightlifting while focusing on the journey of Zabiba, now 21, and her complicated relationship with her aging coach, Captain Ramadan.
Asmaa Ramadan (Zabiba), the film's heroine, told Reuters TV: "The movie is my beginning, and I'm still a young girl who started lifting weights until I'm 18-19 years old.
I mean, the movie shows the entire course of my life in the same movie, exercise, my fatigue, my workout and my running in the sun, I mean the movie shows the story of my life.”
The film’s director, May Zayed, was inspired by the journey of Nahla Ramadan, the daughter of Captain Ramadan, who won the world championship in weightlifting in 2003. In 2014, May Zayed discovered that the elderly trainer was still using a small vacant space to train young girls who aspire to To become professional weightlifters.
Director and Producer Mai Zayed said, "The idea for the film came from a very long time ago, from me in 2003, around the time Nahla Ramadan took the world championship in weightlifting.
At that time, I was very, very affected by the subject, and that she is a girl who plays weightlifting in the street, training with her father, and the idea was preferred with me until 2014, when I met Captain Ramadan, her father and coach, and I met him still training girls, I felt that I wanted to document this trip, I mean.
She added, "It was for me the idea that a young girl plays in the street a sport not accustomed to people in Egypt, which is the sport of weightlifting, which we always imagine the first thing we hear like this is that it is a sport only for men, so I was very interested in discovering these characters."
Zabiba, who lives in the Wardian district of Alexandria, braves the sweltering heat and long hours of exercise at the rundown Ramadan Training Centre.
Zabiba said before the marathon, which was held on Friday (September 3), "By God, we are currently training in the very simplest things, but it means that we do not compare with those who exercise in the best places, on the contrary, we are able to do much better."
The Marathon City Marathon and Cleo Media were organized with the support of the Impact Fund of Beirut DC Foundation.
"Long Live Captain" won many local and international awards and was shown for the first time in a number of international film festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the Cairo International Film Festival.
Eight Egyptian female weightlifters have won multiple Olympic medals in weightlifting since 2000.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news