Circumstance



Atafeh and Shireen are best friends and rebellious teenage girls exploring Tehran’s underground art and music scene and their own burgeoning sexuality—including their feelings for one another. Together, they escape from the stifling restrictions of a repressive society; they drink, dance, get high, and crank up the music while driving. Compelled to hide their love, they fantasize about lesbian bars and lush hotel rooms in the relative freedom of Dubai. Everything changes, however, when Atafeh’s brother, a once-promising classical musician, returns home from rehab. Unmoored by his experiences, he renounces his former life and turns to religious fundamentalism. Joining the state morality police, he begins to spy on his own family, turning their once liberal home into the scene of suspicion, surveillance, and betrayal.
