From refugee to Olympic ring: Ramla Ali story arrives in In the Shadows
Ramla Ali made history as the first boxer to fight for Somalia at the Olympic Games. Her life story now drives In the Shadows, a new British feature film The Guardian. It puts a refugee, a pioneer and a professional fighter at the centre of the story.
Top Boy actor Jasmine Jobson plays Ali and leads an ensemble cast. The film is directed by Anthony Wonke in his feature-film debut, from a script by Ursula Rani Sarma. Finn Cole plays Richard, Ali's supportive husband, described as a white Muslim convert. Gershwyn Eustache Jr plays Clinton, her abusive trainer.
Ali's journey began far from the ring. She is a British-Somali boxer whose family fled the Somali civil war and settled in the UK as refugees. Boxing gave her a focus and a path forward. She chose to represent Somalia as a featherweight, one of boxing's lighter weight divisions, through the African qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
She won her opening bout at the qualification tournament in Dakar. She later lost a professional opportunity on the Anthony Joshua v Kubrat Pulev undercard after testing positive for COVID-19. She still reached the Games in 2021. Away from boxing, she has also appeared on the cover of Vogue.
In the Shadows was filmed in London and produced by Sleeper Films and Curate Films. It will have its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival Variety. The festival includes the film in its 2026 programme. It is scheduled for nationwide cinema release on 30 October 2026 The Upcoming.
What makes this stand out is the ground it covers. For fans, this means a look at the hard parts of a fighting life that rarely make the posters. Gym politics. Family pressure. The wait for a big opportunity. And the particular fight for space faced by women in boxing, where bouts, money and attention have been harder to secure.
Jobson fights out of the south London streets of Top Boy into a very different kind of pressure here. The ring is real. The consequences are real. Ali's story reminds new viewers why boxing can matter beyond belts and scorecards.
