UK-based Enlightenment Films has sold rights to I Can’t Think Straight and The World Unseen to French based Optimale for France and French-speaking regions.

Both films are from director and novelist Shamim Sarif and have had their theatrical debuts in North America.

The World Unseen is set in 1950s South Africa at the beginning of apartheid and follows a woman who has breaks the rules of her conventional Indian community and the new apartheid-led government, by running a café with Jacob, her black business partner.

I Can’t Think Straight moves between Middle Eastern high society and London’s West End as it explores the clashes between East and West, love and marriage, conventions and individuality. The international cast includes Canadian actress Lisa Ray, Sheetal Sheth and Nina Wadia.

Director Shamim Sarif has teamed up with producer Hanan Kattan, executive producer Lisa Tchenguiz-Imerman and associate producer Daisy Allsop on both films.

Thierry Willems of Optimale negotiated the deal with Hanan Kattan of Enlightenment Films.