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THE setting for the meeting with award-winning writer and director Shamim Sarif is exactly how one would expect it to be.
She is staying in a Bantry Bay mansion that clings to the side of the mountain and is reached by funicular.
It's grand and majestic and a fitting environment for someone whose film has just scooped 11 South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas).
But unlike most movie royalty, Sarif is not surrounded by a posse of aides or employees.
She opens the front door herself and extends a hand in warm greeting. Dressed in jeans and a pale blue shirt and with her hair hanging loose, Sarif plops down comfortably on the couch to chat about her film The World Unseen, which opens in South Africa today.
"We stayed here for almost a year while we were making The World Unseen," she says by way of explanation, gesturing at the house and its spectacular ocean view. "That was almost exactly two years ago."
The "we" is Sarif, her partner, Hannan Kattan, and their two sons. They are normally...