Different by Design

Different by Design By Emily McManus - April 21, 2010 Monday night s TED Salon in London Director (The World Unseen) and author (Despite the Falling Snow) Shamim Sarif talked about her evolution as a filmmaker and the moments when she followed her path... More

Different by Design By Emily McManus - April 21, 2010 Monday night s TED Salon in London Director (The World Unseen) and author (Despite the Falling Snow) Shamim Sarif talked about her evolution as a filmmaker and the moments when she followed her path into uncharted territory: going into film; coming out as gay; starting her own production company and record label. “Our faculty of imagination — our ability to immerse into other worlds — is one of our greatest gifts,” she said. She talked about her journey to discover and understand her modern audience. Some didn t want her DVDs delivered to their homes (because they lived with conservative parents), so Shamim s company added digital downloads. Then they discovered that illegal downloads were happening mainly in areas where women were disempowered. “Illegal downloads have an upside. They didn t serve our financial goals, but they served our mission of reaching people,” she said. s Less