Viva Sara! (1984)

In this documentary, we accompany Sara Gubara on a race between Capri to Naples as Sudan’s first international swimmer. At three years old, young Sara was stricken with polio, the family facing the bleak diagnosis that nothing could be done. Gadalla does not accept this fate, devoting himself to his daughter’s recovery. She was encouraged to swim and at twelve years old competes internationally. Moved by Sara’s incredible accomplishment, Gadalla made the documentary Viva Sara, which would later inspire the fiction film Sarahsarà (1994) by Renzo Martinelli. (Source: africanwomenincinema.blogspot)