Above Sinai
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.
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Kylie ZarmatiDirector
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Sensi GravesProducer
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Sarah SadekKey Cast
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Project Type:Short
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Runtime:13 minutes
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Completion Date:July 1, 2024
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Production Budget:20,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Digital Cinema Package:Unavailable
Kylie Zarmati is a videographer, producer and owner of her own media production company. For the past ten years she has been involved in a drastically diverse range of projects ranging from human rights documentaries to short films to commercial brand advertising.
Her company Outlands Productions, has taken her across the globe creating documentaries from refugee camps in Bangladesh to surfing some of the best waves in Mauritius, from orphanages in Ethiopia to highlighting female kite surfing in Egypt. Her work has been featured on CBS, Outside Magazine, with her photos displayed in a UNESCO museum and multiple awards given to her films.
There is little else that makes me happier than helping to share other people’s stories, especially when they are about incredible women doing incredible things. As fellow kiteboarders, my producer Sensi and I have seen first hand the inequality and inaccessibility in this sport relating to women and to people of color. By sharing Sarah’s story, we hope to help bridge that gap, to inspire viewers to be as good of a person as we know Sarah to be, and ultimately to create a beautiful film. Find Kylie’s portfolio at Outlandsproductions.com