Photo Credit: The World Unseen Films, Ltd.
Shamim Sarif
The World Unseen
November 2008
I Can’t Think Straight
November 2008
Bio: Writer/director Shamim Sarif is an amazingly versatile artist. She is a successful author; her first novel won several awards. She is the author of several published short stories, music lyrics, a children’s TV series, and screenplays. She also directed music videos feature films. Shamim has deep roots in South Africa, where her parents and grandparents were born and raised—a heritage that inspired her first, award-winning novel, The World Unseen. She finished her third film—a documentary, The House of Tomorrow—in 2011.
Description: The World Unseen tells a very different story of 1950s Apartheid South Africa. It’s the story of two Indian women: one, Amina, living an unconventional life as a cafe owner with a black business partner, and another, Miriam, a very traditional woman trapped in a difficult marriage. Amina is independent, wears pants, and bucks conventions. Miriam takes care of her husband and children, but is miserable. Amina shows Miriam the possibilities of independence and personal freedom and gives her the tools to change her life, which unexpectedly leads to romance.
I Can’t Think Straight is a story of two young women in London: Tala, a spirited Jordanian who comes from a Christian family and is about to marry her fiancé, and Leyla, a quiet, British Indian with a strong Muslim upbringing. Despite their differences, these two girls are immediately attracted to one another. They eventually share their feelings, but Tala cannot bring herself to break off her engagement and flies to Jordan to complete wedding preparations. It isn’t until the wedding day approaches that Tala recognizes the value of being true to oneself and sets off to reconcile—and win back—the woman she loves.
Interview Date: November 7, 2008
Women and Hollywood: Two films, the same actresses, dealing with lesbian issues opening within two weeks of each other. Are you crazy?
Shamim Sarif: There was no long-term reasoning behind this release pattern. It wasn’t about a woman’s story or a lesbian story or anything like that because at the time we made the movies, I wasn’t looking at it from a distribution point of view. I was passionate about making strong stories and these two screenplays got financed. To be honest, my partner and I and the executive producers and the lead actresses never looked at it as “Oh, we’re doing another lesbian film.” They looked at each one in terms of story and characters—they are very different genres—one is a period piece and the other is a romantic comedy. When we completed both around the same time, our North American distributor thought that a close release would enable them to capitalize on publicity and give the release an unusual spin. But it wasn’t a forced situation of holding one film back—they were both ready around the same time.
W&H: Which did you make first?
SS: We shot I Can’t Think Straight first and it got stuck in limbo when the financing collapsed soon after the shoot finished (or mostly finished!). Then my partner and producer Hanan managed to get The World Unseen going, which was a blessing after the pain of losing I Can’t Think Straight. By the time we got back I Can’t Think Straight, both movies were in post-production at the same time.
W&H: What do you mean by “got it back”?
SS: We had a first investor, a guy who turned out to be a crook and we found out he hadn’t been paying bills. He had the film negative and we had the story rights because he never paid me. It took us more than a year to fight him in court. It was hard and expensive and I was tempted to walk away as it seemed a high mountain to climb. But Hanan was incredibly tenacious and in the meantime we made The World Unseen. We literally finished them both about a month ago.
W&H: How did you not know the bills weren’t being taken care of?
SS: The actors were paid so we didn’t know what was happening until afterward. An amazing amount in film production (and in business generally) gets done on faith—you rent a location, they send you an invoice, they don’t expect payment for thirty days. The movie took twenty-five days to shoot. Then you’re sitting in a nightmare.
The happy story about this is that The World Unseen was a much better financed film—purely by female financiers. They are not gay women—they are savvy businesswomen who just loved the book and wanted to see that vision onscreen. One of the investors crossed over to I Can’t Think Straight and we got another one to come in and then I was able to finish the movie.
W&H: How much were the budgets?
SS: Under $3 million for The World Unseen and less than $1 million for I Can’t Think Straight.
W&H: Did you write both scripts?
SS: Yes, I did. The World Unseen was adapted from my novel of the same name, and it felt like a natural progression because I had written a screenplay before (adapted from a short story I published). I think the book is quite visual, and that helped translate it to the screen, but I love what David Hare says, which is that you have to be promiscuous to be faithful in adaptation. I Can’t Think Straight started as a novel and I got a little bogged down in the structure, so Hanan (cleverly!) suggested I write it as a script first. But I wanted it to be lighter than the novel so I worked with a good friend Kelly Moss who has a fantastic sense of humor. She really helped with the funnier parts of the movie.
W&H: Is it based on your life?
SS: It’s slightly autobiographical in terms of the cultures and certain events. But quite heavily dramatized, as well. For instance, Hanan was not engaged when I met her, but that made a more compelling film storyline. Although it’s specific to Palestinian and Indian cultures, the challenges and emotions the women and their families face are quite universal.
W&H: Hollywood doesn’t think that women’s stories are universal. We are still seen as the other, as a niche. What was your experience with that?
SS: It didn’t occur to me that it wouldn’t be financially viable to write a woman’s story. It’s just what came to me, these strong characters. For The World Unseen, I wanted to write about integrity and about finding your voice, which is something women traditionally need to do especially at the time and place of the movie. For me, the whole journey of the movie was Miriam finding her independence and her voice; and the person who helps her do that is someone who has already found her voice. I had a strong vision for the novel and having strong material to start with was crucial because people will respond, or not, to the quality of the story. In the indie world the quality of the story is paramount. But yes, financing on a large scale is just not as available, but I have to follow my passion and continue to write strong female leads because we still have some way to go in believing that women’s stories are as compelling. And there is no reason for that not to be the case.
W&H: How did you wind up with the same actresses starring in both films?
SS: I knew I wanted to work with Lisa (Ray) again. She had always been in my mind for The World Unseen. I did look at other actresses for Amina only because I didn’t want to go back to what was comfortable for the wrong reasons. In the end, I thought Sheetal Sheth had the combination of vulnerability and strength that I wanted for the role.
W&H: I Can’t Think Straight is chock full of stereotypes and you really open up the conversation about culture and respect while challenging the stereotypes. Was that your intention?
SS: Definitely. I wanted to set it within an Arab family. First of all, I don’t think we get many depictions of upper class, well-educated Arabs, and having been a part of that world for a while through my partner, I was frankly horrified at what was said behind closed doors. I wasn’t hearing that anywhere so I wanted to explore it a little bit. It’s an issue for me that Palestine is not free and that they can’t come to some kind of resolution on the situation. Both sides need to come to the table.
W&H: You worked with many women on your film, which is quite unique.
SS: There was a big difference between The World Unseen and I Can’t Think Straight, which had a very male-centric team around that first investor.
W&H: Was there a different experience on the sets?
SS: I Can’t Think Straight was not a good experience. Not because there were mostly men, but because they were just very chauvinistic. They were not remotely supportive of the vision. They seemed more interested in setting up their own projects instead of setting up the camera. It was a mess except for the director of photography. Working on The World Unseen was a dream by comparison. The majority of crew and cast attached themselves because they were passionate about the project and in a way, having everyone pull together on a thirty-day shoot gave all the crew a sense of responsibility and they rose to that beautifully. It was a pleasure.
W&H: Do you think they didn’t respect you because you were a woman or a new director or both?
SS: I think so because they were “those kind of guys.” There were a few exceptions, but they were mostly not supportive and I think it was partly being a new director, but mostly being a woman. None of them was experienced in film either. I felt it was just a strongly macho culture. It was very different on the second film where everybody was pulling together.
W&H: I read that The World Unseen is partially based on your grandmother?
SS: It’s not actually my grandmother. The Miriam character is closer to my grandmother in terms of the isolated life but she never had the “opening up” experience, certainly not sexually. Amina was based on a real character at that time. All I kept hearing about is that she wore trousers, never got married, and drove taxis for a living. I thought how does someone like this exist at that time? That was how I came up with the back-story of her grandmother who was raped on her way from South Africa to India and raised Amina to be self-sufficient so she wouldn’t go through the same thing. Also, Amina’s father doesn’t care what people say and I think this combination, together with her natural character, gave her the strength to live her own life.
I didn’t want to make it a big issue that she is gay and in fact that’s what tips her relationship with Miriam into romance. It’s not about Amina’s sexuality; it’s about Miriam’s journey to independence. I thought it would be nice to have a movie where a character is gay and it not the be-all and end-all.
W&H: You have a production company with your partner. What do you have in development?
SS: We have several projects at different stages—all with strong female characters. The next film is based on my second book, Despite the Falling Snow, and is set in Cold War Russia. It’s a story of love and betrayal. An enigmatic young Russian woman takes an assignment spying on an idealistic politician and falls in love with him. Whether you can avoid betraying someone you love or your own beliefs is a major theme.
W&H: Why do you think that we have such a hard time with films that star female protagonists?
SS: In Europe, especially in France, they have strong women. I don’t know, because it’s unfathomable to me. I love women; I love female characters. I like good male characters, too, but women hold a special place for me—I find them endlessly fascinating. I don’t have an answer for that because I can’t relate. My dream is for this to be a complete nonissue in the near future!