‘An important, powerful and moving film. It is a revelatory piece of television with incredible twists and turns’
Few documentaries can make headline news, and even fewer are able to lay claim to setting the agenda, but that is what Atomized Studios achieved with the shocking, sensitive and sometimes surreal story of Sir Mo Farah.
The hour-long film reveals the truth about the Olympic champion’s childhood, detailing how he was brought illegally to the UK from his birthplace in Somaliland using a false passport, and spent much of his youth forced to work as a domestic slave for a family that wasn’t his own.
Gripping a consolidated 28-day audience of more than 5 million, the project shines a spotlight on issues that are often overlooked.
Helmed by director Leo Burley and co-produced with Red Bull Studios, the team started to realise the true scale of the project when they followed Farah’s return to his African village, accompanied by his six-year-old son – the first time a documentary crew had visited the remote location close to the Ethiopian border. Director of photography Mike Robinson captured the emotional reunion with his mother Aisha and twin brother Hassan.
The judges described it as an “important, powerful and moving film”. One summarised it as “a revelatory piece of television with incredible twists and turns”, adding: “Mo made the subject human and unmissable.”
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