Mortician
Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Part of the UCLA Film & Television Archive screening series 2026 UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema. Learn more at cinema.ucla.edu.
Guest Speaker: Director Abdolreza Kahani (via video).
Abraham (2024)
Farhang Short Film Festival 2nd prize winner
A visually striking story of a small town tragedy, Abraham follows a local policeman who stumbles into a family secret while investigating the murder of a young man whose body is found in a cave outside the city.
DCP. Directors/Screenwriters: Elnaz Ghaderpour, Reza Gamini. With: Hamid Pour Azari, Sajad Afsharian, Safoora Khoshtinat.
Mortician (2025)
Winner of the audience-voted Sean Connery Prize at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Mortician is set in Canada where a schlubby émigré, Mojtaba (Nima Sadr), performs Islamic ritual washing of the dead as a cultural service of the Iranian government. When he loses his job he wonders how he’ll continue to send money to his family back home until an enigmatic, exiled pop star (Gola), an outspoken opponent of the regime, hires him to help her with one last public protest. The oddest of couples, they find common ground amidst the cold Canadian winter until their secret is exposed in writer-director Abdolreza Kahani’s slow-burn thriller.
DCP. Director/Screenwriter: Abdolreza Kahani. With: Nima Sadr, Gola, Pouya Razavi.
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a division of UCLA Library, and presents its public programs in the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer, among other venues. For more information about the Archive, visit cinema.ucla.edu.
ATTENDING THIS PROGRAM?
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