Abdolreza Kahani‘s latest feature, EMPTY HEAVEN, has been selected for the 79th Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it will celebrate its World Premiere on 15 August 2026. The film will screen in the festival’s Out of Competition programme as a Special Presentation.
The selection marks Kahani’s return to Edinburgh one year after MORTICIAN won the festival’s top honour, The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence. The award, accompanied by a £50,000 prize, was presented to MORTICIAN at the 2025 edition of the festival and helped make the production of EMPTY HEAVEN possible.
According to the festival, EMPTY HEAVEN follows “a lonely Iranian dissident [who] becomes embroiled with a local criminal mob in Canada,” unfolding as “a crisp, lean and dry-humoured thriller rich in thematic depth.” The film has a running time of 87 minutes and will have two public screenings during the festival, with its world premiere taking place on 15 August.
Screen International also highlighted the film among the major world premieres in this year’s programme, describing it as an Iranian dissident thriller from Kahani, who returns to Edinburgh following his Sean Connery Prize-winning MORTICIAN.
The 79th Edinburgh International Film Festival will run from 13 to 19 August 2026, presenting 38 feature films, including 21 World Premieres, reaffirming its position as one of the leading showcases for international independent cinema.
