Circumstance

Hello there lovely readers! I’m Tabby – I’m 19, pansexual and rather confused by gender. I live in Nelson and have an amazing job working at Q-Youth. Alongside all things queer I am really passionate about theatre and film - acting, directing, writing, watching; the whole thing!

 

I also have an awesome job doing work for a drama group, which currently involves co-directing a really cool play (which features a nice handful of queer characters!)!

 

So, being a lover of theatre, film and queerness I figured that my blog can be all about bringing them together and letting you know about opportunities to see queer theatre and film – whether it’s going to a play, the video store or turning on your TV.

I’m going to start by talking about a film I saw a couple of weeks ago as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival, which has been happening all around NZ from July to November.

 

Circumstance is about two 16 year-old girls growing up in Iran, where the love they have for each other is forbidden. Written and directed by bisexual Iranian-American Maryam Keshavarz, it gives us insight into a different world from ours: where you cannot legally be in a relationship with someone of the same sex, where gender roles are very enforced and men hold power over women.

 

The cinematography is beautiful – it captures the girls’ secret relationship perfectly and you know it wasn’t done accidentally. The film follows the girls in both their public lives of wearing head scarves and meeting potential suitors to their secret adventures – driving, visiting underground clubs and loving one another.

 

Keshavarz acknowledges that she will probably never be able to return to the country of Iran after making the ‘controversial’ movie, and the same applies to several of the cast. Some have even ended contact with their Iranian families in order to protect them.

 

In Keshavarz’ first drafts the girls’ relationships was self-censored as she was nervous about what she was doing and what effect it might have on her and her family. Then she decided that if she was going to make the film, she needed to do it truthfully – and so she did.

 

To me this is incredibly inspiring.

 

The people involved in making this movie, are risking their lives in a sense - or at least their freedom to share a story that they believe needs to be told. It saddens me that they have to do this, but in a way it makes me shiver at the level of passion and courage it would take to do that and makes me fall even more in love with their creation.

 

Even during filming they had to lie about what they were doing. Although set in Tehrani, Iran, Circumstance was filmed in Lebanon. Keshavarz gave the government a shortened version of the script, taking out anything about sex and religion in order to obtain film permits and the cast were forced into improvising an American romantic comedy at times when officials would visit the set. Although a challenging journey, it makes it even more exciting to know that they achieved what they set out to do.

 

Ultimately this film is all about repression and that urge all of us have for freedom in our lives. The two leads are beautiful, enchanting new actresses, which I hope to see more of in future films.

 

I would highly recommend this movie. It reminds me how lucky we are to live in New Zealand and although it infuriated my feminist and queer activist self, the scenes between the two girls still managed to make me smile with that special kind of warm, fuzzy feeling that only seeing queer characters on the big screen can bring.

 

 

Unfortunately the NZIFF is over already already for all the places that were showing Circumstance and all the places who’s festival is yet to come aren’t showing it! In Nelson this is the only queer film they showed unfortunately, but it looks like we were lucky even to see this one! Anyway, never fear because there will still be opportunities for you to watch it in the comfort of your own home – it was only recently released in cinemas but I for one will be eagerly waiting to hear about the DVD release. 

Posted by Editor on 10/05 at 10:24am
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