PODCAST | Matt Micucci interviews Mayye Zayed, director of the film Lift Like a Girl.
A conversation with filmmaker Mayye Zayed on her new documentary, Lift Like a Girl, from the 2020 Cairo International Film Festival. The film talks about female weightlifters trained by Captain Ramadan, a larger-than-life trainer and his outdoor gym in Alexandria. It was also the only documentary presented in Cairo’s main competition program and awarded with a prize for best first or second feature, as well as the audience award. In this conversation, Zayed talks about what attracted her about the project, what filming a charismatic figure like Captain Ramadan was like, her interest in both documentary and fiction filmmaking and more.
Lift Like a Girl: For over 20 years, Captain Ramadan coached world-class weightlifters in Alexandria, Egypt. A larger-than-life character in his own right, Ramadan led his daughter, one of Egypt’s most famous athletes, Nahla Ramadan, to become a world champion, and trained Abeer Abdel Rahman, the first Arab woman to become a two-time Olympic medalist. Mayye Zayed’s observational documentary dives into the training of Ramadan’s new protégé: the determined Zebiba (which means “raisin”), who dreams of lifting on the level of Captain’s past stars.