Forget Hollywood, the film business is thriving in Kingston. Miranda Jessop interviews novelist and film director Shamim Sarif who, with the help of her partner Hanan Kattan, turns her books into award-winning movies
Shamim and Hanan talk to Charles Dance
When I think of Kingston, movie glamour and red carpets don’t usually spring to mind. Yet here I am, just a hop and a skip from the Bentall Centre, chatting with author, screenwriter and film director Shamim Sarif, who not only writes novels, she then adapts them into films which she directs. This is the woman who once turned down an offer from Hollywood, preferring to make her own movies from an office in Kingston.
Shamim’s parents moved from South Africa to the UK in the early 1960s, shortly before she was born. The family settled in Surrey, first in Banstead and later in the Sutton area. After school, Shamim studied for a degree in English Literature at Royal Holloway followed by a master’s at Boston University.
“I knew I wanted to be a writer from early on but I wasn’t comfortable announcing it to everyone at first. I went to work with my father in his financial services firm but I would spend all my spare time writing short stories.”
It was only when Shamim’s first novel, The World Unseen was published that she felt justified to give up her job and become a full-time writer.
The World Unseen was inspired by all the stories Shamim had heard about South Africa from her mother, aunt and grandmother, who were of Indian origin.
“I found it intriguing that they had lived in this world that felt doubly oppressed; on the one hand by the Indian patriarchal culture where the husbands were very much in charge and on top of that there was the political backdrop with apartheid. It was insane to me and I wanted to reimagine their world with the idea that a character based on my grandmother could believe she had choices and how that would change the whole course of her life.”
The World Unseen tells a moving story of forbidden love in 1950s South Africa and went on to win the Pendleton May First Novel Award and the Betty Trask Award.
Following the success of her first novel, Shamim adapted the book for film and, rather than contacting one of the big production companies, she turned instead to her partner Hanan Kattan.
“I had previously had a bad experience with Hollywood over my very first script. It was a gentle story of unrequited love and they really liked it but they called me up and said, ‘We’ve got $15 million to make your movie but you need to add in some sex scenes.’”
Shamim found herself at a crossroads, deciding whether to stick with the integrity of the story or jump on the Hollywood ladder. It was Hanan who convinced her to walk away. That early script was never actually made into a film but, with The World Unseen, the two women decided to set up their own film production company, Enlightenment Productions and take it on themselves.
A scene from Despite the Falling Snow
“Hanan said to me, ‘You direct and I’ll produce and let’s see if we can make this movie.’”
After winning 23 international awards for their first film, they did the same with Shamim’s second novel, I Can’t Think Straight which garnered a further 11 awards.
And in April this year, Shamim’s latest book was released as a film. Based on events in 1950s Moscow, Despite The Falling Snow is a tale of love and betrayal in Soviet Russia.
“I was fascinated by that particular era of Russian history and I thought it would be interesting to set a story against that backdrop where the stakes are literally life and death. Also, I don’t think you often see a female perspective on the Cold War, spy thrillers tend to be male dominated. My story gives another dimension.”
Starring Charles Dance and Rebecca Ferguson with the title song by Ella Henderson and a score by Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman, filming took place in Serbia and was completed in just over a month.
“It was wonderful having Charles Dance on board. He was very keen to support the film and he loved seeing the strong female characters as well.”
I ask Shamim how it feels to see her novels coming to life. “It’s amazing and I feel very blessed to be able to go through that process. When you start off as a novelist, you are very introverted, sitting in your own little world. And to go from that place to directing where you need to communicate with so many different people layer upon layer, the lighting, the camera crew, the costume designers, the actors, it’s a real challenge. I really love it but, by the time I’ve finished making a movie, I’m more than ready to go back and sit in a quiet room and write,” she laughs.
It is now 20 years since Shamim first met Hanan, now her wife. “At that time I was dating a guy who introduced me to Hanan and we just hit it off.” It was Shamim’s first lesbian relationship and she tells me that I Can’t Think Straight is loosely based on their story. I ask Shamim whether she feels it is always essential to include lesbian themes in her writing.
“For me it is not so much a crusade, it’s just a wish to see diversity represented without it being a big issue. My first two films became quite niche and I still get emails from people saying that it made them realise that their life could be different and they could live the way they want.”
This is certainly true of Shamim and Hanan who are both mothers to their two boys, now aged 17 and 13.
“We had one pregnancy each: for us the boys are exactly the same, it was just the easiest way to do it.”
Last year they converted their civil partnership to marriage. “It was just for practical reasons but when we went to Chelsea Registry Office and signed that piece of paper, it was quite momentous and it made me realise just how much things had changed in 20 years.”
The family live in Wimbledon and I can’t help wondering why they chose Kingston as a base for their company.
“We wanted somewhere close to home and we really like Kingston; it’s central, not far from London by train with a great shopping centre and good restaurants. For us, it wasn’t a difficult choice but it’s unusual as most film companies are based in Soho. But we love it here and we feel like we have brought a little bit of the film world to Kingston.”
There’s one question I’ve saved until last and that’s whether Shamim will ever reconsider Hollywood.
“Never say never,” she laughs before adding more seriously. “I think you always have decisions to make in life but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are irreversible. I enjoy working independently and I like having that degree of control but it may be that we have a project that works one day in a more Hollywood setting.”
But for now, Shamim is working on her next book The Artemis Protocol which she also plans to develop into a film.
“It will be an all female action movie,” she says without giving too much away. Move over Hollywood and watch out Kingston!
For more info on Shamim and Kattan's work visit enlightenment-productions.com
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