The World Unseen
- Lisa Ray: Miriam
- Sheetal Sheth: Amina
- Parvin Dabas: Omar
- Nandana Sen: Rehmat
- Grethe Fox: Madeleine
- David Dennis: Jacob
- Bernard White: Mr. Harjan
- Colin Moss: De Witt
- Amber Rose Revah: Begum
The Secret World ( Original title: The World Unseen ) is a British- South African drama film from 2007, directed by Shamim Sarif, who also wrote the screenplay based on her own novel. .
Action
The action takes place in South Africa at the beginning of the 1950s, in the apartheid era. Miriam comes from India, is married and has children. The café owner Amina ignored racial segregation in force on many occasions. Both women go into a relationship, because they have problems with the authorities and with Miriam's neighbors.
Reviews
Danielle Riendeau wrote on January 29, 2008 on AfterEllen, the film benefits from the currently rare authorship of the director, screenwriter and author of the original novel. She praised highly the achievements of the leading ladies, and also those of David Dennis. Ray bring in the embodied figure wonderful strength and suppressed force of character. Sheths Amina is amazingly vibrant and you can like them. The amazing camera work shows the beauty of South African landscapes. While there are some parallels to the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, whose plot also play in a coffee shop and where intolerance is discussed.
The lexicon of the International film said: " The mixture of love and apartheid drama remains stuck in mediocrity because wooden characters and a contrived acting staging leave no sympathy. Only the subplot is an older, multiracial couple unfolds emotional persuasion. "
Awards
Shamim Sarif won a prize from the Phoenix Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in 2008. In the competition of the International Gay Lesbian Film Festival Enchants 2008 she was awarded second place.
Background
The world premiere took place on 9 September 2007 at the Toronto International Film Festival, the numerous other film festivals followed, including The Times BFI London Film Festival on October 23, 2007. On 7 November 2008 the film comes in the selected cinemas in the United States; publication in the German cinema was scheduled for 8 January 2009.
March 27, 2009 The hidden world in Germany has been released on DVD (OV ).