Mortician is a Canadian drama film, directed by Abdolreza Kahani and released in 2025.Guy Lodge, "‘Mortician’ Review: Exiled Iranians Hover Between Worlds in a Dark Protest Film With a Light Touch". Variety, August 21, 2025. The film stars Nima Sadr as Mojtaba, an Iranian expatriate living in Canada, where he works for a company that washes dead bodies in accordance with Islamic funeral customs.When he receives notice from his boss (Mehdi Salar) that the company is shutting down and he should consider moving back to Iran, he is approached by Jana (Golazin Ardestani), an Iranian pop star also in exile who intends to commit suicide as a social media protest to raise awareness among her fans of government oppression in Iran.Jonathan Romney, "‘Mortician’ review: Sensitive, slow-burn drama follows two Iranian exiles in Canada". Screen Daily, 16 August 2025.
Kahani shot the film entirely on an iPhone, with no other camera or sound equipment.
Distribution The film premiered on August 16, 2025, at the Edinburgh International Film Festival,Callum McLennan, "Sibling Rivalries, Sci-Fi Prophets and Queer Camboys: 10 Bold Visions Compete for Edinburgh’s $67,000 Sean Connery Prize". Variety, August 8, 2025. where it was the winner of the Sean Connery Prize for Excellence in Filmmaking.Callum McLennan, "‘Mortician’ Tops Edinburgh Film Festival as Event Balances Discovery, Retrospectives and Industry Debate". Variety, 20 August 2025.
Critical response Guy Lodge of Variety wrote that the film "is for the most part an intimate, exploratory two-hander, as a macabre business arrangement evolves into a closer, more interdependent relationship between two people caught between the same two worlds — though their connection stops shy of improbable romance. The director frequently frames the pair in tight, fraught two-shots: His pocket-device cinematography, however economical, is never careless, attentive to the pale desolation of the surrounding landscape and the stark dimness of Jana’s home."
For Screen Daily, Jonathan Romney stated that the fim "shows a trenchant edge in evoking the darkest aspects of exile, especially for those who face punitive reprisals. Gola’s own real-life experience of surveillance and threat are one source of inspiration for a film that starts out subtly troubling, then hits harder once we come to realise the ultimate stakes of the drama."
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