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Writer/director Shamim Sarif seems to do it all, and brilliantly. She is an equally successful author (the Pendleton May First Novel Award, Betty Trask Award), screenwriter and film director (World Cinema Best Director at Phoenix Film Festival, and Best Director at Clip (Tampa) Intl. Film Festival). She has written several published short stories and notable music lyrics, has scriptedited a children's TV series and directed music videos. Sarif received an Afterellen.com 2008 Visibility Award for "International Lesbian/Bi Woman of the Year."
Having seen her first novel, The World Unseen, published to critical acclaim, Sarif subsequently adapted the screenplay for the feature film of The World Unseen, which she also directed, just after making her directorial debut with I Can't Think Straight, another of her novels which she adapted for the screen. The World Unseen was given the Authence Award at the Miami Gay & Lesbian film festival in 2008, and I Can't Think Straight won the same award at that film festival just last month.
The World Unseen is a love story about two Indian women in 1950s South Africa; the other film, I Can't Think Straight, is a contemporary love story involving a Palestinian Christian and an Indian Muslim. Both star one-time Bollywood actor Lisa Ray alongside American-born Sheetal Sheth.
Partly inspired by Sarifs grandmother and the lack of choices she had as an Indian woman in apartheid South Africa, The World Unseen tells the story of free-spirited lesbian café owner Amina and dutiful and introverted wife Miriam; what happens with their unexpected attraction pushes them to question the rules that bind them.
I Can't Think Straight is an exuberant, touching romantic comedy about the clashing of two worlds and cultures. Tala, a London-based Palestinian, is preparing for her elaborate wedding in Jordan when she meets Leyla,...