With Circumstance, Iranian-American director Maryam Keshavarz delves where no President of Iran suggests there’s reason to go: Into a love affair between two Iranian women. Her first feature film,Circumstance is making its Canadian debut at Inside Out after winning the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Sarah Kazemy and Nikohl Boosheri in Circumstance. The daughter of Iranian immigrants who were recruited to the US as doctors in the 1960s, Keshavarz’s interests have always lied in issues surrounding Iran. Initially an academic focusing on Middle Eastern Studies, Keshavarz stumbled upon filmmaking after the media’s portrayal of Middle Eastern people after 9/11 infuriated her. As a reaction to that, she made a collection of experimental films with some friends and ended up using them to apply to film school. She got in (on a scholarship, no less), and shifted from academia to film – but her focus remained on Iran. That’s evident with Circumstance, which follows two young women, Shireen and Atafeh (played by Sarah Kazemy and Vancouver’s Nikohi Boosheri) who begin a secret love affair amidst the dangerous social underground of Tehran.
