“Mortician” by Abdolreza Kahani Wins Sean Connery Prize at Edinburgh Film Festival 2025

“Mortician”, the latest film by Abdolreza Kahani, premiered at the 2025 Edinburgh International Film Festival and won the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence. This award, determined by audience votes, also includes £50,000 to support the director’s next project. The prize was presented to Kahani at the closing ceremony by Jason Connery on behalf of the Connery Foundation.

“Mortician” is a Canadian film in Persian that takes place in Canada.

The story follows Mojtaba, an Iranian mortician living in Canada, who, upon learning that his workplace is closing, encounters Jana, a singer in exile. She plans to undertake a shocking act on social media to draw attention to the repression of dissenters. Their meeting unfolds a compact, human story that oscillates between the sorrow of exile and the hope for life.

Kahani shot the film in a minimalist style, reportedly entirely with an iPhone, without the use of professional equipment. This choice complements the film’s intimate, two-person narrative, giving it a direct and unmediated quality.

International critics responded positively:

• Screen Daily described the film as a “sensitive, quiet, and persistent drama” that beautifully hides its political anger behind a minimalist and cold visual aesthetic.

•  Variety – Guy Lodge: “The film feels more like an intimate two-hander, a relationship that begins with cold collaboration and transforms into human coexistence… Although shot on an iPhone, it is never careless, carefully juxtaposing the cold environment with the warmth of human interaction.”

• Screen Daily – Jonathan Romney: “A calm and precise drama” that effectively depicts the darkest aspects of exile, especially when Jana’s character faces real threats and surveillance.

•  Film is a Fine Affair – Vasilis Kroustalis: “A quiet bomb of moral responsibility,” a film that places the heavy burden of discrimination and ethical duty on its characters within a cold environment, creating suspense.

•  Live for Film – Joe Gordon: “A quiet yet powerful work,” portraying two exiled characters in the cold Canadian setting, forming a human relationship whose impact resonates in the silence of cinema.

• Deadline – Callum McLennan: “Though filmed in Canada on an iPhone, the movie is full of feeling and of the heavy consequences of trying to live in one’s own way.” He went on to note Kahani’s words: “Once, I was banned from making films in my country. So I had to do something. This film is not a protest on paper. It is something real. Physical. A way to breathe again.”

• The Herald – Barry Didcock: “Audacious, gripping, affecting and disturbing.”

• The Movie Isle – Marie O’Sullivan: “Writer, director, and all-rounder Abdolreza Kahani uses nothing fancy to make his film. Employing a minimalist approach, the visuals are simple (but not simplistic) and the performances natural and full of humanity.”

• The Skinny – Jamie Dunn: The film “Mortician” is described as a dramatic and political work with a subtle humorous tone. Dunn regards it as a low-budget film, yet rich in visual innovation.

• Eye For Film – Amber Wilkinson: “Writer, director, and all-rounder Abdolreza Kahani uses nothing fancy to make his film. Employing a minimalist approach, the visuals are simple (but not simplistic) and the performances natural and full of humanity.”

After receiving the award, Abdolreza Kahani said:

“I made this film without money, through hard work. My body still aches. This is single-person cinema. It stands against large-scale financial support for particular films. Please correct these funding imbalances. I thank Paul Reed, who discovered this cinema. This film speaks of warning and a great danger. I hope world leaders can hear it. Now the Sean Connery statue is in my hands. I must make better films. I thank Visit Films, the distributor.”

“Mortician” was produced by Ark Gate Films (owned by Abdolreza Kahani and Shima Monfared), as well as NivaArt and Visit Films.

Its successful screening at Edinburgh and winning the top prize set a bright outlook for the film’s continued presence in global festivals and markets—a path that, supported by critical acclaim and its international distributor, could lead to wider releases.