Maryam

Ramin Serry explores such issues as global politics, ideological conflict, and puberty in this coming-of-age film about being an Iranian-American teenager during the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Maryam (Mariam Parris) longs to be just a normal New Jersey 16-year-old, but her traditionalist father ...more

Adolescent struggles are a common topic in film, handled with various levels of success. Add in a teenager of Iranian descent, caught in the strange position of trying to assimilate to the only culture she's ever known, and Ramin Serry's Maryam becomes a thoughtful and provocative film. Newcomer Mariam Parris is brilliant in the title role, clearly hurt by the taunts of the popular girls, who make cruel remarks that she "needs to shave," mostly because they are threatened by her appeal to a cute ...more