Making "The World Unseen"

Earlier this month, we spoke with lesbian novelist/filmmaker Shamim Sarif (who was recently voted International Lesbian/Bi Woman of the Year by AfterEllen.com readers), her partner (and film producer) Hanan Kattan, and actor Sheetal Sheth, about the making of their first film, I Can’t Think Straight Sarif and Kattan discussed the beginning of their filmmaking career, from their tumultuous first steps into the cinematic world, to the start of their second film, an adaptation of Sarif’s novel The World Unseen.

In this interview, they discussed the making of their second film. A much more intense script, and a period piece (it’s set in 1950s South Africa), The World Unseen benefited from the lessons Sarif and Kattan learned from making their first film, and took home serious praise at gay and straight independent film festivals.

The narrative of Unseen is centered on a love story between a fiery café owner — Amina (Sheetal Sheth, who co-starred in Straight), and a reserved housewife — Miriam (Lisa Ray, Straight’s other star).

Miriam (Lisa Ray) and Amina (Sheth) in The World Unseen

Both are women of Indian descent living in Apartheid South Africa, representing a world that’s set between the extremes of black and white society, and certainly within a very traditional Patriarchal culture.

“For The World Unseen,” said Katttan, “we moved — Shamim and I and our two boys — we moved to South Africa. We put them in South African schools, you know, it was a new continent and a new country that we were familiar with, but not to live in.”

They also set up shop right away, recruiting department heads for the ambitious project and making sure that the problems that plagued Straight wouldn’t be an issue on the new production. “I think from a production perspective," said Kattan, Unseen "was much better organized [than I Can’t Think Straight] in terms of all the legal contracts, the structure, the cash flow, the financing, and how to control elements."

“We made sure we wouldn’t have the same issues we had on the first film," she continued, "[which] allowed us to really focus on the production to get the results that Shamim wanted, versus a focus on firefighting and troubleshooting almost every day or every hour. That made a big difference. And it gave Shamim less stress so she could focus on the creative side.”

Shamim Sarif and a baby on the set of The World Unseen

The plan worked, and production on Unseen was much smoother and more positive, allowing Sarif to get the details of the film just right. This was especially important because Unseen is a period darama, where the details — from costumes to props to vehicles — are critical to telling the story, but tougher to nail down.