She fights for her dream while hiding her whole existence. 16 minutes, zero punches pulled.
A rising MMA star hides her refugee status from her small American town, and the world.
Acting
Damouni's silence screams louder than any dialogue could.
Direction
Selbak makes every frame feel like borrowed time.
Director
Rolla Selbak
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Selbak, a Palestinian-American filmmaker, specifically cast Damouni—a Lebanese actress with her own refugee experience—to ground Sara's silence in authentic fear.
The title's double meaning—MMA submission hold and the suffocation of hiding—reflects how undocumented athletes literally cannot breathe easy in systems built to expose them.
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