Mortician, the latest feature film by Iranian filmmaker Abdolreza Kahani, has won Best Feature Film at the 12th Persian Film Festival in Australia, marking the film’s fifth international award.
The film had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it received the Sean Connery Prize for Excellence in Filmmaking. It also earned the festival’s monthly Audience Award for Courage. Continuing its festival run, Mortician went on to win both Best Film and the Audience Award at Seeyousound International Music Film Festival in Italy.
To date, Mortician has been screened at around 20 international festivals, with further screenings scheduled in the coming months.
A character-driven drama, the film follows an Iranian immigrant in Canada navigating moral conflict, exile, and proximity to death. Shot entirely on a mobile device with minimal resources, Mortician is a clear example of Kahani’s “Solo Cinema” (or “One-Man Cinema”) approach, a method in which the filmmaker takes on nearly all aspects of production independently.
With its continued international presence, Mortician is emerging as a distinctive work within the contemporary independent festival circuit.
