Mike Fleming

Participant Media has set the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award winner Circumstance to be distributed domestically by Roadside Attractions. Participant acquired the Maryam Keshavarz-directed drama during the festival, and now the film is on track to be distributed theatrically during the summer. The film is set in contemporary Iran, where a wealthy family struggles to contain a teen’s growing sexual rebellion and relationship with another girl, while her brother grows into a dangerous militant. Keshavarz, who has been outspoken on the 6-year prison sentence given Jafar Panahi and Muhamad Rasoulof, shot the film in Lebanon because she feared its controversial subject matter might endanger her crew.