The Sundance Film Festival—widely viewed as a more intellectual than commercial film fest—is still largely known for US dramatic features and documentaries, but has steadily increased its emphasis on foreign films.
Officials with the Sundance Institute, which backs the festival, say 30 percent of its work year-round is dedicated to international outreach, and the festival’s programmers have increased their globetrotting to find top-notch films either made overseas or dealing with subjects in foreign lands.
This year an Iranian film screened at the festival drew many rave reactions.
“Circumstance” earned high praise for its take on sexuality, personal expression and cultural barriers in Iran as two affluent teen girls experiment with music, underground clubs and eventually their sexual feelings for each other.
Director Maryam Kesha-varz, said she hoped to break new ground in Iranian cinema. “It deals with a lot issues that haven’t been dealt with in Iranian cinema before, primarily looking at sexuality, looking at religion, fanaticism, obsession,” she told Reuters.
The film, which deals with an affluent Iranian family that starts to break apart when the brother and sister move in different directions, was entered in the US dramatic competition here at Sundance because it was partially financed in the United States and the director is US-born and raised.
Still, Keshavarz said the movie reflected her experiences with strong, young Iranian women, “their struggle and their incredible strength,” when she regularly traveled to Iran until three years ago.
The movie was shot in Lebanon. “It won’t be probably looked on as favorable [in Iran], because it shows the resilience of young people and their desire to get around all the restrictions,” she said.
The Hollywood Reporter called “Circumstance” an “amazingly accomplished and complex first feature.”
The review said, “Drawing on some of her own experiences, she [Keshavarz] has created an insiders’ look at a world few of us will ever get to see. The political, sexual and religious labyrinth of Iran today feels at once contemporary and utterly foreign. Told with a modern rhythm and propulsive soundtrack, it’s a compelling story that should attract both a young and older audience of culturally curious moviegoers.”
The newspaper said the two girls at the center of the film “act out their rebellion by taking drugs and partying in hip-looking underground clubs, but their only real escape is through their imagination. Life is so stifling in Iran that they picture themselves running off to the relative freedom of Dubai.”
The brother of one of the girls is a crack addict recently released from jail. Looking for a way to fit into society, he turns to religion. “His twisted sense of holiness leads him to become a member of the morality police and from his lofty perch puts his whole family under surveillance,” The Hollywood Reporter says. That sets him on a collision course with his sister.
The newspaper had one reservation. “At times,” the review says, “Keshavarz may have been too close to these people and occasionally it feels like she is trying to squeeze in too much detail. Particularly in the early going, the film seems like it’s simmering rather than gaining momentum. Some judicious trims would help that. But overall this is an impressive debut from a filmmaker with something to say and the talent to say it.”
Keshavarz studied Persian literature at the University of Shiraz before turning to filmmaking. She has a B.A. in literature and women’s studies from Northwestern University and a mas-ter’s in Near Eastern studies from the University of Michigan.