FILMS BY SHAMIM
Shamim is a Multi-Award-Winning Director for Feature Films and TV
With her partner, producer Hanan Kattan, she owns London-based Enlightenment Productions, as well as film companies in Canada.
Enlightenment has produced film adaptations of Shamim’s novels, I Can’t Think Straight, The World Unseen, and Despite the Falling Snow, along with a powerful documentary The House of Tomorrow.
Please check the Enlightenment Productions website for more on these projects.
Shamim Sarif Showreel
Polarized
Written and directed by Shamim Sarif, starring Holly Deveaux and Maxine Denis, produced by Hanan Kattan and Juliette Hagopian
In a fading small town, Lisa goes to work at a ‘vertical farm’ – the kind of new science that she blames for pushing traditional farms, like her family’s, out of business. Dalia and her successful, Muslim family own this new farm – and they struggle to find a welcoming place in the local community. Weeks before Dalia’s wedding, a heated encounter between the two young women exposes deep prejudices and results in Lisa losing her job. But it’s only the start of an unexpected connection between two women from the same town, but very different worlds. As the pair enjoy a growing friendship and attraction, they will have to break the barriers of race, religion and class that keep them apart, or risk settling for the lives their families have laid out for them.
Polarized
Written and directed by Shamim Sarif, starring Holly Deveaux and Maxine Denis, produced by Hanan Kattan and Juliette Hagopian
In a fading small town, Lisa goes to work at a ‘vertical farm’ – the kind of new science that she blames for pushing traditional farms, like her family’s, out of business. Dalia and her successful, Muslim family own this new farm – and they struggle to find a welcoming place in the local community. Weeks before Dalia’s wedding, a heated encounter between the two young women exposes deep prejudices and results in Lisa losing her job. But it’s only the start of an unexpected connection between two women from the same town, but very different worlds. As the pair enjoy a growing friendship and attraction, they will have to break the barriers of race, religion and class that keep them apart, or risk settling for the lives their families have laid out for them.
Despite the Falling Snow
A film by Shamim Sarif, starring Rebecca Ferguson & Charles Dance
Despite the Falling Snow
A film by Shamim Sarif, starring Rebecca Ferguson & Charles Dance
When Alexander unwittingly closes the net around his own wife, Katya decides to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect him… A sacrifice that is only discovered thirty years later by an older Alexander (Charles Dance).
REVIEWS
~ Now Magazine
The World Unseen
A film by Shamim Sarif, starring Lisa Ray & Sheetal Sheth
In 1950s South Africa, free-spirited young Amina has broken all the rules of the apartheid government and her own conventional community by running a café. When she meets Miriam, a young traditional wife and mother, their unexpected attraction turns their world upside down
REVIEWS
~ Variety
The World Unseen
A film by Shamim Sarif, starring Lisa Ray & Sheetal Sheth
In 1950s South Africa, free-spirited young Amina has broken all the rules of the apartheid government and her own conventional community by running a café. When she meets Miriam, a young traditional wife and mother, their unexpected attraction turns their world upside down
REVIEWS
~ Variety
I Can’t Think Straight
A film by Shamim Sarif, starring Lisa Ray, Sheetal Sheth & Nina Wadia.
I Can’t Think Straight
A film by Shamim Sarif, starring Lisa Ray, Sheetal Sheth & Nina Wadia.
Tala, a London-based Palestinian, is preparing for her Middle Eastern wedding when she meets Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend.
Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other, but the attraction is immediate and goes deeper than friendship. But Tala is not ready to accept the implications of the choice her heart has made for her and escapes back to Jordan, while Leyla tries to move on with her new-found life, to the shock of her tradition-loving parents.
As Tala’s wedding day approaches, simmering tensions come to boiling point and the pressure mounts for Tala to be true to herself.
Moving between the vast enclaves of Middle Eastern high society and the stunning backdrop of London’s West End, I Can’t Think Straight explores the clashes between East and West, love and marriage, conventions and individuality, creating a humorous and tender story of unexpected love and unusual freedoms.
REVIEWS
~ LA Times
The House of Tomorrow
The House of Tomorrow takes a new approach to an old conflict inspired by the forward vision of extraordinary women who are changing their own worlds a step at a time – not by overlooking the conflict but by seeing what people can do despite it.
Inspired by the TEDxHolyLand conference and shot on location, the film takes us from the high rises of Tel Aviv to the holy sites and bustling markets of Jerusalem; from the cobbled lanes of Bethlehem to the expanding streets of Ramallah, capturing the energy and tension of a world defined by its clashing viewpoints. A contemporary and lively documentary, The House of Tomorrow chooses to focus on the future and to encourage the idea that people can have a hand in their own destinies, however unlikely and whatever the odds.
The House of Tomorrow
The House of Tomorrow takes a new approach to an old conflict inspired by the forward vision of extraordinary women who are changing their own worlds a step at a time – not by overlooking the conflict but by seeing what people can do despite it.
Inspired by the TEDxHolyLand conference and shot on location, the film takes us from the high rises of Tel Aviv to the holy sites and bustling markets of Jerusalem; from the cobbled lanes of Bethlehem to the expanding streets of Ramallah, capturing the energy and tension of a world defined by its clashing viewpoints. A contemporary and lively documentary, The House of Tomorrow chooses to focus on the future and to encourage the idea that people can have a hand in their own destinies, however unlikely and whatever the odds.
