SXSWORLD

SXSW.COM | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 | SXS W O R L D 1 9  Signature Move unfolds as a nuanced look at the struggles of these women: Zaynab, played by Mirza, is an immigration lawyer who struggles to come out to her traditional Pakistani mother, Parveen (Shabana Azmi). Parveen is grieving for her recently dead husband and has moved in with Zaynab but won't leave the house and spends her days TV-glued and focused on her daughter finding a man.  Zaynab meets Alma (Sari Sanchez), an openly gay Mexican woman, who seems to have it all worked out. Her former lucha libre champion mother, Rosa (Charin Alvarez) and Jayde (Audrey Francis), a stoic former wrestler who unwittingly becomes Zaynab's spirit guide, offer contrasts to Parveen's traditional view of gender roles.  Still, despite the au courant powder keg issues of sexual orien- tation and immigrant assimilation, at its core, the film shouldn't overshadow the way the film tries to undo stereotypes.  "I think the film is inherently political, but I didn't set out to make a political movie. My reality is intensely political to many people," says Mirza, who grew up the daughter of Muslim Pakistani immigrants, first living in London, Ontario, and then in Indiana. "Some real-life things that happened in my life inspired some of it. In reality, I have an ex-girlfriend who is Mexican, and one of the things I found was there was this great connection across commu- nities to be had."  Mirza's reality potentially put her between a rock and a hard place: but she refused to allow being gay in the Muslim world, or Muslim in the Western world, prevent her growing into herself.   "It can be hard to be Muslim. It can be hard to be gay. It can be hard to be both. What I know is that the only way I was able to be me was to embrace all of the me," she says emphatically, "and almost create a new identity where all those things are inextricable."  Signature Move, co-written with Lisa Donato and directed by Jennifer Reeder, is a spin-off from one of Mirza's short films. Her other shorts include "The Queen of My Dreams" and "The First Session," which co-starred Mouzam Makkar (The Vampire Diaries, The Exorcist) and Parvesh Cheena (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Outsourced), and was shown at the NBC Diversity Short Film Festival, held at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood, and at The American Pavilion at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.  Besides film and stand-up comedy, Mirza wrote a "one-person play," as puts it, "Me, My Mom & Sharmila," which she performed in Pakistan last year. She also helmed and starred in the satirical web series Kam Kardashian, where she played a long lost lesbian Kardashian sister, and a mockumentary, The Muslim Trump, about Donald Trump's fictitious illegitimate Muslim daughter.  But the role of Zaynab is something for which she's yearned: "Playing someone like Zaynab is why I started writing in the first place," she says. "As an actor, you are always waiting to be cast in a role you fit into. I thought, why wait?"  Like Zaynab, Mirza isn't a wrestler either. But the allegory of wrestling— going through the motions of set moves, while seeking to define yourself with a unique signature move—is perfect for a story about following your individual path.  Besides cultural and sexual orientation, Signature Move has one more stereotype buster that speaks across the female divide: these women are not bystanders in the own lives. Even Parveen, the house-bound mother who watches the world through binoculars, rises to the occasion.  "This is not a film about Muslim women needing to be saved," says Mirza. "Even Parveen, who is different from the rest, is this strong, rich woman. Part of it was finding those moments beyond being a mother. She's as quirky as anyone else in the film. The actor playing her is the Meryl Streep of South Asia. She is amazing."  Mirza hopes the film will find a broad audience: "This movie is written by queer women, about women of color, and is directed by a woman. It is a film about women," she adds, "but the audience, we believe, is even more expansive and the story is deeply relatable across communities. The relationship struggles, the fears, the awk- wardness, trying something new, the self-discovery, the coming of age, the mother-child relationships and mother-child communica- tion struggles, is all something that we think crosses culture and is deeply inclusive." Signature Move will World Premiere at SXSW 2017. Fawzia Mirza will also appear on panels in the Film and TV Industry and Experiential Storytell- ing tracks. See schedule.sxsw.com for more. Fawzia Mirza and Sari Sanchez in Signature Move, photo by Chris Rejano

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