Desiree Akhavan probably doesn't want you to call her the new Lena Dunham. In fact, she definitely doesn't want you to call her the next Lena Dunham. She says so. In the interview we're about to report on.

Desire AkhavanDesiree Akhavan has been called the next Lena Dunham

You might recognise the name. Akhavan played Dunham's on-screen pal at postgrad school on Girls, though the 30-year-old is also a notable writer and director and helms the comedy Appropriate Behaviour which hits cinemas this weekend.

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On being touted as "the next" Dunham, Akhavan told the Evening Standard, "I watch Girls every week. It speaks to me because I see the world in a similar way. I'm proud that Girls exists and I'm proud that Lena exists, because before that there wasn't really any proof that money could be made off intelligent, funny young women from New York. She paved the path. I know that a lot of the reason I get any attention is because of a standard that she set."

Appropriate Behaviour - about a young woman struggling to become an ideal Persian daughter - was shot in 18 days and cost less than £350,000 to make. It will please fans of Girls and Dunham herself tweeted that it was "audacious, funny and unique."

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"Appropriate Behaviour is a confident and witty debut about finding yourself and fitting in that knows exactly what it wants to say. Akhavan is undoubtedly one to watch," said Katherine McLaughlin of The List.

"A true multicultural comedy, equally at home in its hipster Brooklyn and Iranian immigrant settings, taking a loving and scornful look at both," said Robert Levin of amNewYork.

Appropriate Behaviour hits theaters in the U.S from Friday (March 6)