While pursuing her MFA at NYU/ Tisch, Maryam’s short film THE DAY I DIED won the Gold Teddy and Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Fest and her feature documentary, THE COLOR OF LOVE, won Full Frame’s Spectrum Award and IDA’s David Wolper Award and was broadcast internationally.
Maryam developed her first narrative feature, CIRCUMSTANCE at the Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, and Film Independent Labs. In 2011, CIRCUMSTANCE premiered to critical acclaim and won the coveted Sundance Audience Award and a dozen international awards including Best First Film at the Rome Film Festival. Described by the New York Times as “Swirling and sensuous” and by Wall Street Journal as “Supremely cinematic,” CIRCUMSTANCE was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and landed Maryam on Deadline.com’s “Directors to Watch” list.

CIRCUMSTANCE was theatrically released in over a dozen countries, and is currently being developed as a TV series with BBC America. Her second feature, VULTURE CLUB, starring Susan Sarandon, is scheduled to film in June, and future projects include THE LAST HAREM, a gender-bending musical based on the love affair between Nasir Shah and a cross-dressing court musician. Maryam is also developing a semi-autobiographical comedy series based on her eccentric, enormous Iranian-American family.