The Real Mo Farah (2022)

Interesting facts

The Real Mo Farah is a 2022 documentary about the childhood of Mo Farah, a British athlete. In contrast to the story previously told by Farah, the documentary covers how Farah—born in Somaliland during the Somali Civil War—was illegally trafficked to the UK at the age of nine to be a domestic servant. After telling his P.E. teacher, he was brought under the care of a Somali friend's mother. The school obtained British citizenship through deception for him to compete in running events internationally. The documentary premiered on 13 July 2022 to universally positive critical reception.

Production

The film was directed by Leo Burley and co-produced by Atomized Studios and Red Bull Studios. The project was greenlit within days and took 18 months, with filming and editing taking place within weeks of the release. Producers feared that key figures interviewed would withdraw consent, even after filming.

The Real Mo Farah premiered on BBC One on Wednesday 13 July 2022 at 9 p.m.; it was released at 6 a.m. on the same day on BBC iPlayer. Media outlets reported on the main news of the documentary—that Farah was illegally trafficked to the UK—earlier in the same week, before the documentary's release.

Farah credited his wife and his school P.E. teacher Alan Watkinson with giving him the strength to make his history public. Watkinson said that many of Farah's friends warned him of the risks of revealing his history. Farah said that he felt "sadness and trauma" over his childhood, where he learned to block emotions. He told his wife the truth about his childhood the year before their wedding.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.