A feature film shot covertly in Iran and smuggled out of the country won a jury award for ensemble cast at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Between war, massive street protests and government crackdowns, directors Maryam Ataei and Hossein Keshavarz faced many obstacles getting The Friend’s House Is Here finished in time for its premiere in Park City, Utah.
Set just after last summer’s Iran‑Israel war, the Persian‑language film is a portrait of Tehran’s underground cultural scene: street concerts, art galleries, avant‑garde theater performances and late‑night after‑parties where artists gather to celebrate, flirt and talk about life and art. The story follows two roommates and friends who are part of that world: one acts with an underground theater troupe, the other posts videos of herself dancing in front of historic monuments — acts that can bring legal trouble in Iran.
“They just wanna just have a regular life, they wanna be on Instagram, they wanna dance. They wanna be free,” Ataei says. “We wanted to tell the story of sisterhood and a fantastic community of people helping each other.” Keshavarz, who co‑wrote and co‑produced the film with Ataei and is also her husband, says they were inspired by the young artists they know in Tehran. “We just fell in love with them. They’re so cool. They’re so funny, they’re so hip,” he says. “Resistance is an everyday act for them.”
That defiance has played out in large street protests that have met brutal repression. As NPR has reported, security forces have arrested and killed thousands since the start of the year. Keshavarz says many of the young people they worked with have been arrested for arbitrary reasons but continue to support each other despite the danger.
Filmmakers in Iran face ongoing pressure. Keshavarz cites the example of Jafar Panahi, whose films are banned in Iran and who has been repeatedly arrested and imprisoned; Panahi was nominated for an Academy Award this year, was sentenced in absentia in December and recently had a co‑screenwriter arrested. “Jafar Panahi actually said it was like psychological terrorism,” Keshavarz says. “Artists are being arrested so much for doing their work. That’s just kind of like the baseline of difficulty and fear that we had to deal with.”
Ataei and Keshavarz say they shot The Friend’s House Is Here in secret, hiding cameras and sound gear and limiting takes in public to avoid drawing attention. They trusted only close friends and family to serve as extras for fear spies could expose them. They completed filming in October and were in post‑production when widespread protests erupted and the government instituted an internet blackout in January.
Ataei and Keshavarz were already in the U.S., but two crew members risked everything to get the finished footage out. They smuggled a hard drive across checkpoints and into Turkey, hiding the film on the drive at the end of a religious movie in case it was seized. After a nonstop 12‑hour drive to cross the border, the filmmakers got the call: “I have the film! I’m going to upload the film right now,” Ataei recalls. “What they did was so heroic!”
The story of getting the film out wasn’t the end of the worry. During a protest in Iran, one actress from the film was hit in the face with pellet bullets. She could not safely go to a hospital for fear of arrest or worse, and medical staff and others helped save her vision. Meanwhile, U.S. travel restrictions prevented the film’s two main actresses from obtaining visas to attend the Sundance premiere. “It’s so crazy, all these difficulties making a film in Iran and skirting the authorities,” Keshavarz says. “And then now the film’s at Sundance, but you can’t get a visa from the State Department.”
Ataei and Keshavarz split their time between the U.S. and Iran with their seven‑year‑old daughter. Ataei, 45, says she spent her childhood surviving explosions during the Iran‑Iraq war in the 1980s. Keshavarz, 48, grew up in New Jersey and New York and met Ataei about ten years ago through his sister; they quickly began collaborating on indie films. They also worked as consultants on a Hollywood project for five years that ultimately was canceled, a disappointment they say was heartbreaking.
Undeterred, the filmmakers are now in Los Angeles pitching new projects to Hollywood, including an animated feature set in ancient Iran. Despite arrests, censorship and personal risk, they say the community they document keeps making art and looking for ways to be seen.