Ramla Ali On Making Her Biopic After Years Of Struggle

The journey to bring Ramla Ali's story to the screen proved almost as grueling as her path to the Olympics.

Ali, who became the first Somali woman to compete in Olympic boxing, saw her life turned into the biopic "In the Shadows" after years of production struggles, according to ESPN. The film chronicles her rise from refugee to groundbreaking athlete.

How The Ramla Ali Story Reached The Screen

The production faced repeated setbacks before reaching completion. Director Mikiah Kreps shepherded the project through multiple obstacles to capture Ali's transformation from a young woman training in secret to an Olympic competitor representing Somalia at Tokyo 2020.

Ali fled Somalia as a child during the civil war and grew up in London, where she hid her boxing ambitions from her traditional family for years. She later became a professional fighter and international pioneer for women's boxing in the Muslim world.

The film opened in select theaters this month.

Reported via:

• ESPN Boxing — Behind the scenes of the Ramla Ali biopic: An epic story of blood, sweat and tears