This is Fresh Air, I'm Terry Gross.

This is our first show since Hamas is shocking and horrific invasion of Israel, which has

led to all-out war.

We will be talking about the war and what led to it, but today we're going to proceed

with the interview we'd already planned to broadcast.

Today's interview is with an Iranian-American filmmaker.

Her work has made it unsafe for her to return to Iran.

We recorded our interview last week.

You won't be shocked to hear that a feature film about the underground youth culture in Iran

and two young women sexually drawn to each other was banned in Iran.

The film's writer and director, Maryam Keshevars, was banned from ever returning to Iran.

She's the daughter of Iranian immigrants.

That film, called Circumstance, was released in 2011 and had the distinction of becoming

the top black market DVD in Iran that year.

In the US it won the audience award at Sundance.

This year she became the first director to win the Sundance audience award a second time

when she received it for her new film, The Persian Version, which she wrote and directed.

It also won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.

The Persian version is a fiction film, but it's based on the story of Keshevars' life.

There's a few things about her that are very similar to her main character, Leyla.

Keshevars identifies as bisexual.

Her parents first came to the US in 1967 as part of a program recruiting doctors from other

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