Writer/director Shamim Sarif is an equally successful novelist (the Pendleton May First Novel Award, Betty Trask Award), screenwriter, and feature film director. She has published three novels and one non-fiction book.

Her first feature film ‘I Can’t Think Straight’ has won 11 awards and her follow up movie ‘The World Unseen’ had its debut at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival before going on to garner 23 awards internationally.

She has published many short stories and has built a successful career in script editing and screenplay adaptation. Shamim has also directed music videos and written lyrics for recorded songs. An accomplished speaker, she has spoken at TED events in London, Jerusalem and India, as well as at corporate events for companies such as Deloitte and Goldman Sachs.

In 2008, Shamim received an AfterEllen Visibility Award as International Lesbian/Bi Woman of the Year. With her partner and producer on her films, Hanan Kattan, she runs the Enlightenment group of companies, based in London, and the Sarif-Kattan Foundation, focused on empowering and educating women and children.

Shamim has recently completed a feature documentary as writer and director. Shot on location in Israel and Palestine, The House of Tomorrow looks at the conflict between these countries from a perspective of women who are focused on building a future.