Circumstance: Lesson letter and DVD
Movie description
Iranian coming of age film about best friends Atafeh and Shireen who discover their budding love for each other in contemporary, heavily conservative Iran and dream of a free existence.
Tehran, the present. Atafeh, 16, comes from a wealthy, liberal family. Her best friend, Shireen, lives with her uncle; her deceased parents were staunch opponents of the Iranian regime. Since homosexuality is considered a sin in Iran and therefore prohibited by law, the young girls must be careful about expressing their feelings for each other. Under the strict supervision of the community, the teens are navigating between their true identity and the traditional lifestyle imposed on them.
Director Maryam Keshavarz takes her viewers to modern Iran. The Iran that usually remains invisible to the outsider: an exciting world of illegal nightclubs, where young people risk arrest to experiment with sex, drugs and rebellion, while trying to evade the authorities.
Teaching materials
Extensive teaching material is available for the film. This material consists of a teacher's guide, an assignment sheet and a resource sheet.
United States, Iran, Hong Kong, China, France 2011, 107 min.
Fiction, Video, Color
Spoken language: Persian (Farsi)
Subtitles Dutch
Official website
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