This visually stunning film set in contemporary Tehran is writer-director Maryam Keshavarz’ first feature film. Denounced by the Iranian government before they even saw it, Circumstance is the story of the love affair of two 16-year-old Iranian girls that starkly demonstrates that the danger faced by anyone who dares to who challenge the fundamentalist morality imposed by the Iranian regime. When in public, the two girls wear headscarves and drab clothes, blending in with other schoolgirls. At night, they and their friends head for Tehran’s many secret underground clubs to enter the city’s hidden world of illicit parties, sex, drugs and rebellion.
Ironically the greatest threat comes from one of the girl’s brother who has recently returned home from drug rehab and fallen under the spell of a member of the morality police. Lost, bitter, and estranged from his disappointed father, he becomes an informer, setting up an arrest that will forever alter all of their lives.
The Audience Award Winner at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
