‘The Friend’s House is Here’ Review: A Touching Tale of Sisterhood Defiantly Celebrates Tehran’s Underground Artists

Key Highlights

• Related Stories Gayle King Plays Coy on 'CBS Mornings' Future at Golden Globes: ‘I’m Not Going to Make Any Announcement Here’ 'Love Island USA' Was the Most-Watched Streaming Original TV Season in 2025, According to Luminate Year-End TV Report Shot entirely (and perilously) in secret, much like the recent, genre-defying work of Jafar Panahi (including the Oscar-nominated “It Was Just An Accident”), and completed in the aftermath of the June War, “The Friend’s House is Here” was reportedly smuggled out of the country once the ongoing protests, with thousands of confirmed deaths, erupted.
• In that regard, Keshavarz and Ataei’s spirited effort feels like a modern-day heir to virtuosos like Panahi, as well as Abbas Kiarostami, whose 1987 masterpiece “Where is the Friend’s House?” is proudly honored by this film’s title.
• Like the essence of the masters it channels, “The Friend’s House is Here” is defined not by the many constraints that it battled during its production, but by the artistic vision of the resulting work.
• Popular on Variety More importantly, the film is energized by a gentle and joyous quality throughout, with Keshavarz and Ataei refusing to succumb to a doom-and-gloom disposition in following their protagonists: Pari (Mahshad Bahraminejad) and Hanna (Hana Mana), two rebellious artists and best friends in contemporary Tehran.
• Like Bahraminejad, Pari is an underground theater artist of inventive performance pieces that challenge the status quo.