By Jessica Herndon

The Friend’s House is Here unfolds inside Tehran’s underground art world, where freedom is played out in private. The film, premiering in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, follows Pari (Mahshad Bahram) and Hanna (Hana Mana), two young women who carve out a refuge through performance, creativity, and shared conviction. But when their creative sanctuary is exposed, their self-expression and safety are compromised, forcing them to protect one another at all costs.

Writer-directors Hossein Keshavarz and Maryam Ataei, who also produced the 2011 Sundance Film Festival U.S. Dramatic Audience Award winner Circumstance, bring a keen intimacy to this portrait of artistic life under pressure. Their storytelling blurs the line between stage and street, performance and reality. 

Keshavarz and Ataei were introduced to Bahram through her underground improv group. “We fell in love with her and then with the whole group,” says Keshavarz following his film’s premiere. “They are so much fun to be around, and we wanted to make a film that showed that. And we wanted to show that resistance is everyday life. These kids that are protesting now, they want to have a life where they can be free.” 

Completing The Friend’s House is Here has been a long, tough journey, Keshavarz adds. “We were doing post [production] in Iran when the internet got shut off,” he says. “And crew members, they took it upon themselves to basically smuggle the film out of the country. Unfortunately, our actors are not here with us. They couldn’t get a visa because there is a ban on countries like Iran from getting a visa. We’re so heartbroken, with what’s going on, but hopefully we can shine a light on these amazing people.”

Raw performances in The Friend’s House is Here create a mood that moves between tenderness and threat. We’re invited inside an artistic world shadowed by the constant awareness that visibility carries consequences.

When making this film, art imitated life. “We did the film underground,” says Ataei. “We didn’t get permission.” Keshavarz adds that they were well aware that “there’s always an extreme danger in shooting. We almost got arrested a couple times, and it was so stressful. But it was also so joyful because we were making this film with our friends. It was a crazy experience, but I think the biggest thing is that you have to know who to trust. It’s life and death.”

Getting the scenes they wanted on the streets of Tehran meant they had to film quickly. “There’s a large margin for error because a lot of times you’re shooting the street and we would have one take, two takes because we didn’t want to get arrested,” says Keshavarz. “But we were so inspired by these artists. They do improv and they live in the moment, and we wanted to capture that authenticity, that realness.” 

While filming the last scene of the movie, they noticed someone filming them work. “We were like, ‘Holy shit. We got to get out,’” remembers Keshavarz. They’d made a plan in advance that if there was ever a need, the crew would disperse. They put the plan into action, and when they met up again, they were riddled with anxiety. “We were like, ‘Ok, are they gonna come and get us now?’ Then we just got all the alcohol we had, we started drinking, and that became our wrap party.” 

At its core, The Friend’s House is Here is a meditation on radical connection with like-minded artists encouraging each other’s unapologetic expression no matter the consequences. Keshavarz and Ataei don’t just make art about this lifestyle, they live it. “You know, when you come to this and you choose this life, you have to accept whatever comes to you,” says Ataei. Adds Keshavarz, “One of our secondary actors, one of the dancers, she got shot in the face with a pellet gun. People we know have been killed. We want to celebrate these people, and we want to leave on a moment of hope.”