Nikohl Boosheri and Sarah Kazemy in the movie Circumstance

As in any good scenario, Nikohl Boosheri’s life is molded by new developments and different points of view. Born in Pakistan from Iranian parents, the young actress grew up in Ontario before moving to Vancouver where she studied acting. She made her public debut in the movie Circumstance, last year, in which she played Atafeh, a young Iranian from Teheran in love with her best friend Shireen (Sarah Kazemy). This movie is a glance at homosexuality which is an issue in Iran and with which Boosheri has had to deal with.

Having lived in North America for most of your life, why did you get involved in a movie that deals with Iranian?

The script I read was the first one depicting an Iranian story. Growing up in North America, I did not yet identify myself as an Iranian. In primary school, I was the only colored person and I even experienced some racism. I didn’t want to be seen as different. I just thought that I was Canadian. Many things happened in 2008 (date of the casting) and the green Revolution happened at the same time (in 2009). When I read the script, it was the calm before the storm in Iran and for the first time I identified with the Iranian people. It presented the possibility for a western and an Iranian audience to discover Iranian youths and their culture. I related to that, it was an exciting prospect. I had to get involved.

The movie couldn’t be shot in Iran. Tell us what it was like to shoot in Lebanon.

Lebanon was an experience that I will never forget. I had never been outside North America before. It was a culture shock for me. It was also the first time I was in a country where everyone looked like me, physically. There is a military base located in Beiruth. It took a few weeks to get used to this new world. I have never been to Iran and I found that Lebanon brought us closer to that country. We thought we were in Iran in a way. We faced a lot of challenges in Beiruth. In some ways it is very open minded there, but there is also repression. We had trouble filming certain scenes. We were, however, able to forge very strong bonds of friendship with the people and the Lebanese who worked with us on this movie. If somebody asked me in which country I would like to go right away, I would answer Lebanon!

Nikohl Boosheri - Photo par Victoria Will

The whole movie is in Farsi, a language that you speak thanks to your parents. Did you have to work on your accent to make the movie more realistic?

Yes! I worked for a whole year on my accent. We needed too because Sarah (Kazemy) has a French accent and Reza (Sixo Safai) an American one. Our Farsi teacher lived with us. From 5am to midnight we worked with her. Sometimes, she would stop the scene and ask us to repeat the script. It was also very important for the director (Maryam Keshavarz) because she’s always thought that language was a main link to another culture. It was just unacceptable to have an accent.

The sexual scenes can shock certain people, particularly in Iran. Did you think about the reaction from your parents and relatives?

Of course I thought about it. I am a full blooded Iranian woman. The most important thing for me was what my parents would think of the movie. I was very honest with them from the beginning. Their reaction came as a surprise to me. My mother was very understanding because she is very open-minded. She just said that the movie would have been even better without the lesbian parts. (Laughter) My father was very relaxed about it. He understood completely my job as an actress. Most of my family lives in Canada and saw the movie. They liked it a lot and still love me so everything is fine! (Laughter)

Do you know if it is possible for Iranian people to see the movie in Iran in spite of its ban?

Yes I am sure that they have already found it. The Iranians are often very bright in computer technology. As soon as the movie was released, we were contacted by Iranians in Iran who wished to congratulate us and express their pride. Some were even able to find my contacts to let me know about it.

Circumstance won the people’s choice award at the 2011 Sundance Festival 2011. It was also a big success during the Vancouver movie festival and many Iranian came to applaud you. Do you sometimes have the feeling that you stand for more than an actress, like a breath of freedom for Iranians worldwide?

Yes, I feel a responsibility but not only to Iranians because people across the world can see themselves in this movie. Many people, probably not only homosexuals, identified with the various characters. Even a narrow-minded person can find something in the story that is going to tempt them to support those girls. That’s why the movie got the people’s award at the Sundance festival. It is not just a movie raising the Iranian issue or about the country’s traditional cinema, because the director has a perspective halfway between North America and Iran.

Soon after the move A seperation was awarded an Oscar, a lot of people from the community spontaneously expressed their joy on Facebook or Twitter. How do you explain this great enthusiasm?

I think that Iranians have two personalities. We want Iran to get better but everything is very political. Like the French people, Iranians can be very critical to their own people. In other countries, the situation is different and people show blind support when somebody represents their country. A movie such as A separation is different because it does not hurt anyone’s sensibilities. Whatever your opinion, you don’t have impression that the director wants to give you a lesson of morality. It is something all Iranians can feel proud of. The director was brilliant to be able to obtain a consensus in a country marked by various beliefs and ideologies. I don’t think it has so much to with Iranians, but rather to the nature of the movie A Separation.

Is it easy to grow up in a country like Canada when your parents were born in Iran?

I think you now nail a difficult issue for people like me who represent the first generation of Iranian Canadians, but also for our parents. Growing up, I felt a lot of empathy for them and my family and understood why they were sometimes so worried. Here, parents don’t have the same control on their children as they do in Iran. Education is very important. After school, I had to go back home and do my homework. To go out, to have a social life, to wear make-up–all these things go against the principles our parents grew up with. On the other side of the ocean, the way of living and of raising children is so different that one notices a kind of identity crisis and wonders if one is more Canadian or Iranian.

Are you going to celebrate Norouz and what are your projects for the new year?

I celebrate Norouz every year. It is a wonderful time to be with my family and an occasion for all of us to be together. This coming year, I will try to improve as [an] actress by studying and working hard. I am probably going to take lessons in various techniques in Vancouver. No movies are planned for the moment, but lots of things are coming my way. Nothing I can talk about right now.