Festival films
Above Sinai
Director: Kylie Zarmati / USA / 2024 / 13 min /
Follow along as we meet Sarah Sadek, Egyptian native and professional kiteboarder, at her home on the Sinai peninsula. In a world where women are not often found in athletic roles, nor in the water, Sarah shows us how she is opening the eyes of her local community and pushing the boundaries in a gracious yet badass way (and yes, the two go hand in hand!).
Growing up in Cairo, kiteboarding was never on the forefront of Sarah’s mind. That is, until she started visiting the small town of Dahab’s beautiful blue lagoons and began watching the boys in this exciting new sport called kiteboarding. Now, she lives here, amongst the Bedouin tribes that are not accustomed to seeing women in these roles nor in the water. As a young athlete she was often met with pushback, begging to compete with the men while many would opt out of competitions where she was involved. Since then, Sarah has fought her way to becoming one of the top female competitors in the world. Our film allows Sarah to tell us what it is like to face these hurdles, to be a minority athlete in the international circuit and how she is empowering her local community, but mostly allows her to show us how she is changing the game through her exceptional skill on the water.