Sundance Favorite 'Circumstance' Takes Top Prize at Noor Iranian Film Festival

9:51 PM PDT 8/8/2011 by Steven Schwankert

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Brian Rigney Hubbard

Director Maryam Keshavarz left Iran after her film was banned.

Sundance Film Festival Audience Award winner Circumstance was lauded again Sunday night as it won the Audience Award, Best Director and Best Actress at the Fourth Annual Noor Iranian Film Festival, held on the UCLA campus.

Circumstance: Sundance Review

Director Maryam Keshavarz left Iran after her film about star-crossed lovers was banned. It begins a U.S. theatrical run on Aug. 26 in Los Angeles and New York.

Navid Negahban won Best Actor for his role in the short film Liberation, by director Michael Younesi, with Nikohl Boosheri winning for Circumstance. In all, 25 awards were given out at the ceremony at UCLA's James Bridges Theater.

Jury members for this year's festival included Oscar-nominated sound editor Iranian-American Kami Asgar (Apocalypto), actor Corey Feldman (The Lost Boys), actress Frances Fisher (Titanic), actress Bai Ling (Anna and the King) and actor Max Martini (Saving Private Ryan).