Archive

Making “I Can’t Think Straight”

Once upon a time, a successful lesbian novelist – Shamim Sarif – decided that she was going to make films.

She started by writing Hollywood scripts, and when that proved depressingly unsatisfactory, she adapted her novels into screenplays, learned the art of directing, and convinced her partner Hanan Kattan to produce her films.

A couple of years and two full-length features later, the couple is currently knee-deep in a sea of anticipation and praise, with the recent theatrical releases of I Can’t Think Straight and The World Unseen. AfterEllen.com had a unique opportunity to speak with both the filmmakers and lead actress Sheetal Sheth about the journey from page to screen, and back again. Surely, many lesbian filmmakers have “done more with less” before, but none on the scale and scope of Sarif and Kattan. They brought a “DIY” ethos to a higher level.

Their first film was a trial by fire for a new director. First, Sarif had to learn how to direct, which involves management of personalities, time and resources – a very different process from the introspective task of penning novels.

“I think the big thing, when you’re writing a novel especially, is that you really are in charge of your own creative world and universe, and of course it’s a very solitary process,” said Sarif. “It was interesting to me how that transition to directing would be. I loved it, as it happens. But there is partly an element of management about it, because you’re in charge of a staff of 80 or 100 people.”

“But what I really did love about it,” she continued, “was the collaboration – between the different heads of departments, and especially with the actors; because these are all people who are better at their jobs than you could ever be. If you’re lucky, they’re bringing in a creative aspect to it that is actually raising the game for you.”

Kattan, for her part, had to learn the ins and outs of producing a feature film – and the I Can’t Think Straight production was a particularly tough production.

But Sarif had confidence in her partner. “I knew she had the passion and the drive in the business sense, and I was pretty sure she could pick up learning about a new industry too. And, well, you can see the result — two films in two years. It’s great for me.”

The next step was securing I Can’t Think Straight’s two leads to play the parts of Tala – a headstrong Palestinian woman, and Leyla, a shy but talented writer who struggles with her sexuality.

They two women and fall in love amidst a storm of traditional familial and cultural expectations and an uncomfortable political backdrop – not an easy task for performers of any cultural or ethnic background.

In what was to become the first of many roadblocks, Sarif and Kattan had a hard time finding performers of the right ethnicity.

Said Kattan: “We had a lot of problems with other Arab and Indian actors who just refused to do these scenes, because a kiss, let alone a love scene, between them [was too risqué].”

The filmmakers even found it difficult to get permission to use Arab inspired music in the love scene because of the subject matter. True to form, Sarif ended up writing the music – but there was still the matter of finding two strong performers who had no problem playing lesbians. Said Sarif “I had one actress who offered to do a little light kissing in a skin colored bodysuit” she laughed, “but nothing muck kinkier than [that]!”

Kattan and Sharif found their perfect matches in Lisa Ray, a former Bollywood star and model, and Sheetal Sheth, an Indian-American actress best known for her role in Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World.

Both would go on to star together again in The World Unseen.

Securing Sheth was actually one of the last pieces to fall into place: “The funny thing is, I didn’t have a chance to read [the script] because I was in the middle of other stuff,” said Sheth. “I finally sat down to read it and I was so taken by it immediately.” “I couldn’t find somebody that I thought would gel for the part of Leyla in the UK.” Said Sarif, “But I had a couple of good phone calls with Sheetal and she flew over for an audition – Hanan said ‘pack for two days, but be prepared to stay for two months!’

Kattan chimed in: “And she did!”

Sarif was also quite impressed that neither performer had any issues at all with playing lesbian roles onscreen.

“I will say one thing for these two – the issue of the stories being between two women never even crossed their minds, it never even came up in conversation. It was just a great story that they wanted to be a part of.” Said Sheth, “You know what’s funny? It didn’t even occur to me.”

She continued: “To be quite frank, anytime I go on set and I have to kiss someone, I’m like ‘great, I’m in bed with a stranger!’ so a guy and a girl, they’re equally awkward!” She laughed. “To me, there’s no difference… I just thought it was a beautiful love story, and ok, it’s with this woman, and that’s wonderful.” When the Indian press got word that Lisa Ray (as a former Bollywood star) was going to play a lesbian, they created a frenzy that threatened to overshadow the small production. According to Kattan, Ray completely ignored all the drama, and focused on her character.

“I think Lisa’s reaction was so incredible,” said Kattan. “She just blocked it off and wouldn’t engage — she had a lot of people calling for interviews and wanting to sensationalize it more and she just would not go there, and we all agreed to just concentrate on the filmmaking and not on the periphery and the issues that were around … and just focus on creating two beautiful films.”

Finally, production began, but circumstances were far from ideal — Sarif had a measly thirty days to turn her novel into a feature film.

“We had a very tough shoot,” said the director. “Days were just chopped out of the schedule without any warning, things were suddenly not available. So, every day was a struggle, particularly for Hanan, just to keep things going, keep it together, and for me to just try and cover the story.”

And then, the legal battles began.

“When that shoot finished, everything collapsed.” She continued. “It turned out then that a lot of payments hadn’t been made, and the movie basically went into limbo for awhile, and we had to launch a legal battle to get it back.”

It’s a real testament to the passion and character of everyone involved that all the trials and tribulations were taken in stride. “It was definitely trying and hard,” admits Sheth, “and unfortunately, one of the financiers was not a nice guy. You know, it’s a war. You go to war anyway in a movie, it’s your blood sweat and tears with any small movie…” She continued: “But, you come really close through it, by the end of that, and you hope that you’re doing good work in the midst of all that.”

Sarif (right) on set with Lisa Ray

Sarif and Kattan were remarkably nonplussed by the situation, moving right to setting up a new feature in the midst of the legal chaos: The World Unseen (also adapted from her eponymous novel), about a romance between two Indian South-African women in Apartheid South Africa (in the 1950s, specifically).

Sarif and Kattan actually moved their family to South Africa

in order to set up for the film.

Certainly, the lessons so bitterly learned on Straight carried over to the more ambitious second project. “It was a bigger move and challenge, a different time period and location, so it took more preparation and more work. Having done I Can’t Think Straight had prepared us to know to spend more time with preproduction to get everything right so when we did start shooting, that first day, everything was in place. Said Kattan.

Both films are similar in many ways — though the stories are different, both are lesbian romances set within very traditional, stiffly structured cultures and worlds. Each film has layers of commentary about race, gender, sexuality and politics, and on a more visible note, they star the same leads.

Thankfully, Sarif handles her material with a deft touch — there’s a lightness and a humorous streak to both films (though particularly in Straight) that keeps her work very balanced and natural — it’s not all drama.

The director credits her self-described “wicked” sense of humor.

“We went for a humorous approach there, because especially with the cultural elements and the whole Palestinian/Israeli debate,” she said. “It’s such a big touchstone, and a touch point for people’s emotions, so we wanted to see if we could just lighten the view of it a little bit, just say ‘well, this is how families talk’ but we kind of inject the humor.”

A great deal of the initial dialogue between Tala and Leyla is of the infectious, flirtatious sort, further sweetening the love story that centers and grounds the film. Sheth, for her part, said she enjoyed the sort of screwball humor of the film.

“I loved the little things that Tala and Leyla say to each other, having to do with politics and self and family. You know, you throw in that little zing and people really love that part of it.” Kattan agreed that the use of humor certainly has a serious application.

“I think Shamim’s themes and her other novels quite explore political backdrops,” Kattan explained. “It’s again, the family traditions, the politics, the culture, society, even the spite of them, you can find your voice in your art and have the strength – inner strength to move forward in your life to make your own happiness really, regardless of everything else around you. I think it’s a good contrast to the characters and their development.”

There are many other shared elements between the films, but it’s important to remember that Straight was the first, despite the fact that it was released long after Unseen lit up the festival circuit worldwide. While the film itself may be a bit rough around the edges, it represents the first fledgling effort of an emerging filmmaking force. In their second production, the team would go on to refine and essentially remix elements in order to breathe life into a truly moving and poetic story – and earn countless accolades in the process.

Check out Sarif’s website for more information on the films, and read our review of I Can’t Think Straight. Look for an article on the making of of The World Unseen soon.

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button