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Polarized, Shamin Sarif’s fifth film as director, is set to enjoy its world premiere at BFI Flare in March. The multi award-winning filmmaker took inspiration from her own relationship with wife Hanan Kattan for this story of two women from different backgrounds and religious faiths becoming friends and, ultimately, falling in love.
Sarif is riding the crest of a wave currently with her previous film, Despite the Falling Snow starring Rebecca Ferguson and Charles Dance, currently streaming on Netflix. She’s so far chalked up a total of 47 major industry awards including 13 for Despite the Falling Snow. Sarif has also won acclaim for her work on TV, most notably in season 4 of Netflix’s You. The smash hit starring Penn Badgley has been watched by over 40 million households.
At BFI Flare, Polarized will enjoy two screening dates on March 18 and 19. Sarif says she wanted to “explore what it might take for two young women, one evangelical Christian, one Palestinian Muslim, both ingrained with certain beliefs about the ‘other’, to step outside the unspoken barriers between them to become friends and, ultimately, fall in love.”
Dubbed “Wild Rose meets Brokeback Mountain,” Polarized is a slow-burn tale set on the stunning Canadian prairies. Lisa a struggling singer/songwriter from a white bible-belt farming community. Meanwhile, Dalia’s Muslim family have left Palestine to set up an agri-tech company in Canada and are planning her wedding to her straight high school sweetheart.
Both women must come to terms with their queer identity and the barriers thrown up by family, religion, race and community in the post Trump/Brexit era. “It’s an emotional journey I experienced myself when I fell in love with another woman, someone who was ‘wrong’ from all the traditional perspectives,” says Sarif.
Shamim Sarif on the set of Polarized with actors Maxine Denis and Holly Deveaux
“I was brought up in a Muslim household and 27 years ago, coming out was a real problem. LGBTQIA+ representation was scarce on screen. Things have changed, but not everywhere; recent events in Iran and executions in Saudi have highlighted how brutally hard it continues to be for women and queer people all over the Middle East, as well as parts of Asia.
“It’s been over a decade since my first queer feature films, I Can’t Think Straight and The World Unseen, were released – but every day I still get messages on social media from women who tell me how these stories changed their lives.”
Palestinian Hanan Kattan, who produced the film, says: “Polarized reminds me of Lee Isaac Chung’s film Minari in the way it shows a rarely seen side of the immigrant experience.
“It’s one of the few times in cinema that we see Palestinian immigrants onscreen who are successful, driving scientific innovation, and in the case of Dalia, also queer.”
Polarized will premiere at BFI Flare on March 18 before a second screening on March 19.
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