Help Luton burns survivor Shamiam produce film about star-crossed lovers

Talented film and TV production student Shamiam, pictured with her parents Arif and Tahira at her 21st birthday party last year. She's raising funds to help plan, shoot and edit a film for her final year at the University of Hertfordshire.

Brave burns survivor Shamiam Arif, 21, is in her final year at the University of Hertfordshire studying TV and film production – and she needs your help.

She and her fellow students on the award-winning course are fundraising to help plan, make and edit their final year film, entitled Heaven Knows.

It’s about two star-crossed lovers in the midst of the Troubles in Republican Ireland. It’s a story you know but with a twist you don’t.

Music binds this Catholic girl and her Protestant boyfriend but the stakes are high – all manner of morals and obligations present seemingly insurmountable threats, providing a backdrop of romance, drama and danger.

Director Alexander Campbell says: “It’s important we portray the real events of the Troubles as sensitively and as apolitically as we can.

"Colour is a key element of our story, with key colours being elevated, and shadows being used as a visual representation of the threat and danger facing people in their narratives.”

Shamiam – who suffered life changing injuries in a cot fire as a baby – has never let her disabilities stand in the way of what she wants to do.

She won several prizes at Challney Girls High for her can-do attitude, while her sunny smile made her a favourite at Broomfield Hospital where she was treated in the St Andrew’s Burns Unit by her beloved ‘Uncle Doctor’ – plastic surgeon Professor Peter Dziewulski.

She’s loved every minute of the course and has set her sights on a career in a mainstream organisation like the BBC. Visit the GoFundMe page to help.