THE CIRCLE was banned in its homeland yet won the Golden Leopard at the 2000 Venice Film Festival for its powerful portrayal of the terrifying discrimination facing women in Iran. In a circular tale of intersecting lives, the film follows six different women in their experiences of the harsh restrictions. The ‘tragic’ birth of a granddaughter; the inability of an unaccompanied young woman to buy a bus ticket; the despair of another who’s escaped jail to seek an abortion only to be cruelly turned away from her father’s house. THE CIRCLE eloquently and courageously dares to dramatise the situations that bind the daily existence of women in Iran, taking its place alongside films such as the upcoming THE DAY I BECAME A WOMAN (due in January) and THE APPLE.