Circumstance

Taboo-crushing drama, set in contemporary Iran, following two 16-year-old girls as they delve into a heady world of sex, drugs and underground nightclubs. Said to "expose the hidden world of Iranian youth culture". Winner of the Audience Award (Drama) at Sundance 2011.

“Maryam Keshavarz’s lusty, dreamy take on the passionate teenagers behind the hijabs. Risking jail and worse are the sassy, privileged Atafeh and the beautiful, orphaned Shireen. They’re under constant, unnerving surveillance, in a country where more than 70 percent of the population is younger than 30. Nevertheless, within their mansion walls and without, beneath graffiti and undulating at intoxicating house parties, the two girls begin to fall in love with each other, as Atafeh’s handsome, albeit creepy older brother Mehran gazes on... Filmed underground in Beirut, with layers that permit both pleasure and protest.” (Source: NZ International Film Festival 2011)

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