Please join us for this film screening and discussion of a Netflix Film
hosted by the United Nations Association of New York
The Swimmers
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Guest Speakers
DEANNA BITETTI
Senior Communications Officer
UNHCR Liaison Office in New York
SVEN SPANNEKREBS
Co-Founder
Yusra Mardini Foundation (USA)
Butterfly by Yusra Mardini Association (Germany)
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Thursday | 2 February 2023 | 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Free admission
Dolby 88 Screening Room
1350 Avenue of the Americas (at West 55th Street)
Lobby Level
New York, NY 10019
6:00 p.m. | Film Screening
8:15 p.m. | Q+A
Screening begins promptly at 6:00 p.m. followed by a Q+A discussion
(Film running time: 2 hrs 15 min)
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Registration for this event is now closed
Based on a true story, THE SWIMMERS follows the journey of two sisters, Yusra and Sara Mardini, who flee war-torn Syria for Europe, hoping to fulfill Yusra’s dreams of competing in the 2016 Olympics. Real-life sisters Nathalie Issa and Manal Issa star in this Netflix drama directed by Sally El Hosaini, which relays the Mardini sisters’ perilous journey.
In a film the Telegraph called “unashamedly rousing and immaculately crafted… a sports drama with more at stake than individual glory,” we witness the sisters not only making their way to Lebanon and then Turkey, but entering into a perilous arrangement to be smuggled into Greece in an overcrowded dinghy — which suffers an engine failure in the Aegean Sea. The sisters had to swim for three and half hours to stop the boat from capsizing, ensuring the safety of everyone else on the dinghy.
When eventually reaching Germany after their harrowing journey as refugees, the Mardini sisters put both their hearts and champion swimming skills to heroic use, as they compete in the pool at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Please join us for the return engagement of our live film-talk events at the Dolby Screening Room in New York, as we present this absorbing and inspiring film. On hand after our free screening, we are pleased to host Deanna Bitetti, Head of External Relations and Communications at UNHCR, the UN refugee agency based in New York City, who will be joined live on Zoom from Berlin by Sven Spannekrebs, Co-Founder of the Yusra Mardini Foundation (USA) and the Butterfly by Yusra Mardini Association (Germany). Sven is Yusra’s real life swim coach in Germany and their work together is featured in the film.
GUEST SPEAKER
DEANNA BITETTI
Senior Communications Officer
UNHCR Liaison Office in New York
Deanna Bitetti (she/her) oversees external relations and communications at the UNHCR Liaison Office in New York. Previously, she served as a Senior Communications Officer for Global Communications at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, based in New York City, after acting as Head of Communications/Senior Project Lead for Tokyo2020 in the UNHCR Representation Office in Tokyo, Japan. She has served as the Deputy Commissioner for Policy and Communications at the New York City Mayor’s Office for International Affairs and represented the UK Mission to the United Nations as a Senior Policy Advisor negotiating consensus outcomes in the UN Fifth Committee. Deanna has also held senior positions in local and state government in NY and is the former Associate Director of Common Cause/NY. She holds a BA degree from Hunter College as part of the Macaulay Honors College University Scholars Program and a MPA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She is a 92nd Street Y Women InPower ‘22 Fellow.
GUEST SPEAKER
SVEN SPANNEKREBS
Co-Founder
Yusra Mardini Foundation (USA) and Butterfly by Yusra Mardini Association (Germany)
Sven Spannekrebs is Co-Founder of the Yusra Mardini Foundation (USA) and the Butterfly by Yusra Mardini Association (Germany).
As the former swimming coach of Yusra Mardini and the Refugee Olympic Team, Sven has a close connection to the Sport for Development sector and has initiated various projects that enable integration through sport for refugees.
He is project manager of the Berlin initiative "Swimming Coach Course for Refugees", the integrative program educates swimming coaches who then work at Berlin school swimming centers and are thus taken over into the first job market.
With the Yusra Mardini Foundation and the Butterfly by Yusra Mardini association, Yusra and Sven want to share their experience and initiate projects around the world that use sport as a development tool, promote integration and build perspectives.
Sven is co-founder of the initiative "Free Humanitarians", which campaigns against the criminalization of humanitarian helpers who provide first aid to refugees at the borders of Europe, support them after their arrival or provide sea rescue. In particular, a case in Greece around Yusra's sister Sara Mardini and other humanitarian helpers is a focus of the initiative's work.
Sven is also working as PR Manager Stakeholder Communication for the Special Olympics World Games 2023 in Berlin until summer 2023. The Games are the largest inclusive sporting event in the world for people with intellectual disabilities.
Watch the official trailer for the Netflix film THE SWIMMERS