{"id":19046,"date":"2016-11-14T13:24:56","date_gmt":"2016-11-14T13:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/?p=19046"},"modified":"2016-11-14T13:24:56","modified_gmt":"2016-11-14T13:24:56","slug":"sadia-saeed-new-feature-film-arifa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/14\/sadia-saeed-new-feature-film-arifa\/","title":{"rendered":"Sadia Saeed on her New Feature Film \u2018Arifa\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

W<\/span>e sat down with Pakistani-born writer and director, Sadia Saeed. Known for her sharp wit, Sadia\u2019s latest movie stars hit comedian Shazia Mirza and centres around protagonist Arifa who reaches a crisis in her life when the escalation of her\u00a0feelings for intriguing but capricious ‘professional’ gamer, Riccardo De Luca,\u00a0coincides with the sudden reappearance of her estranged father.<\/p>\n

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Tell us about the film<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arifa<\/em> is essentially about a father daughter relationship and a young woman who, estranged from her father and being a young Pakistani woman, finds complications when she meets a stranger in a caf\u00e9. The story parallels her and her father and the relationship with this man. It\u2019s a comedy drama that\u2019s more subtle with its humour.<\/p>\n

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Would you say it relates to the Asian audience quite well?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s representative of Asian audiences. I\u2019m from a Pakistani background and I\u2019ve drawn a lot from my personal experiences. When you write something a lot of people tend to see themselves in their writing. I\u2019ve written from an immigrants point of view and I think it will be relatable for diverse audience.<\/p>\n

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Did you find it difficult to get Arifa <\/em>off the ground?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, it was very difficult and I had to do it independently in the end. You hear a lot\u00a0about\u00a0people promoting diversity, but it\u2019s still so hard to get your foot in the door regardless of where you\u2019re coming from. Now that it\u2019s made, I\u2019m getting a lot of interest.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

Do you think the diversity element is particularly helpful, given it\u2019s such a hot topic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, absolutely it\u2019s a hot topic. There\u2019s so much debate around it, people saying it shouldn\u2019t \"_mg_4240\"<\/a><\/strong>be happening, that people shouldn\u2019t have special treatment. There\u2019s a lot of debate around politic correctness. It\u2019s interesting times. Arifa<\/em> should resonate particularly with young men and women from Asian backgrounds. It\u2019s ultimately an immigrant story about someone who came from Pakistan, someone who was in a leadership position and is now struggling like a fish out of water.<\/p>\n

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Considering it\u2019s a comedy, was it hard balancing the seriousness and lightness?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a dark comedy and can be quite polarising. But I think you have to laugh at your own situations otherwise you go crazy.\u00a0 Some things can be quite traumatic at the time then years later it becomes funny.<\/p>\n

\n

That\u2019s another way the film is breaking boundaries. It\u2019s a comedy directed by an Asian woman starring an Asian female comedian- Asian women are seen as especially funny.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, that why Shazia Mirza is such a fantastic role model in a way. To tell the truth I tried stand up comedy and it\u2019s the most difficult things I\u2019ve ever done so I really admire Shazia for what she\u2019s doing. I\u2019ve also written a play that was performed by Kali Theatre Company, called The Deported<\/em>. It was more slapstick, more farce. Arifa<\/em> is more subtle with more heart and intellect.<\/p>\n

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What would you say is the main message of the movie?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forgiveness, understanding and kindness. There\u2019s a lot of anger in the film and we\u2019ve demonstrated it in a funny way so there\u2019s humour and anger rolled into one, but when you watch it, you\u2019ll realise that getting angry or doubtful or suspicious doesn\u2019t solve the situation. There\u2019s a lot of uncomfortable moments where you\u2019ll laugh because of how uncomfortable it is. I\u2019m a big admirer of artistic or art house films such as those in India that don\u2019t\u00a0 get as much of a voice as Bollywood gets. We have a kickstarter running and there are so many projects going on because people don\u2019t want to work in the mainstream companies where the focus is on celebrities and there\u2019s not much heart, they don\u2019t engage as much. We have less than 24 days to pick up funds on our Kickstarter to help promote Arifa<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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What advice would you give other upcoming Asian females in art industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Write and read things you can work with, don\u2019t be afraid to get in touch with people you don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s through social media or websites or emails. I\u2019m willing to engage with people to discuss ideas and collaborate and I had a really difficult time casting this film because I couldn\u2019t find the right person to play the lead role so I think women need to be more brave. People talk about arranged marriages etc but there are more subtle ways we\u2019re held back from being free. There needs to be more collaborations between women. Don\u2019t be afraid to reach out to others for advice, help, collaborations. Don\u2019t be afraid of rejections, you\u2019ll face lots of rejection but keep pushing on<\/p>\n

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What\u2019s Shazia like to work with?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unlike her stage persona, she\u2019s very focused. She\u2019s just really great and reliable, rehearsals are always fun. I would definitely work with her again.<\/p>\n

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Where are you hoping Arifa<\/em> will take you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re submitting it to numerous festivals and we\u2019ve got a good response from high profile festivals in America. After these screenings it should make the next movie easier to make, with more support from the industry.<\/p>\n

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What has the experience of Arifa<\/em> been like for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a lot of blood sweat and tears. One the first day on set we had a very tight schedule and by the \"_mg_3749\"<\/a>end of the day, I was in tears. You can\u2019t imagine when people are working for three weeks in a very hectic and fast spaced environment. There\u2019s people getting angry and frustrated, going wrong. We managed to finish and we used some of the most fantastic equipment. We used a camera lens that provides the most beautiful look. It looks a lot bigger budget than it is.<\/p>\n

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Is this your first feature film? <\/strong><\/p>\n

It is. It has a lot of sentimental value.\u00a0 The name Arifa<\/em> is my mother\u2019s name so it holds a special place in my heart.\u00a0 I look at the film like my first child.<\/p>\n

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What do you have planned for the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I tend to make films that are quite close to me personally. I\u2019ve been working on Arifa<\/em> for four years and the only reason I was able to work on it so long was because it was so close to my heart. The relationship between a father and daughter is such an important and intriguing one that has many ups and downs. I\u2019m looking for my next topic that will keep me motivated for another four years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 We sat down with Pakistani-born writer and director, Sadia Saeed. Known for her sharp wit, Sadia\u2019s latest movie stars hit comedian Shazia Mirza and centres around protagonist Arifa who reaches a crisis in her life when the escalation of her\u00a0feelings for intriguing but capricious ‘professional’ gamer, Riccardo De Luca,\u00a0coincides with the sudden reappearance of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":19056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,108,106,72,112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-desixpress","category-dx-interviews","category-film","category-interviews","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}