At the Edinburgh International Film Festival, acclaimed Iranian director Abdolreza Kahani presented his latest film Mortician. Known for pushing boundaries, Kahani shot the project entirely on an iPhone with no additional equipment, relying solely on natural light and a minimal sound setup. Working with only a handful of actors and no crew, he created a work that blurs the line between lived experience and filmed narrative.
Kahani was joined in Edinburgh by cast members Nima Sadrzadeh (playing Mojtaba) and Golazin Ardestani (playing Jana), better known internationally as Gola, a British-Iranian actress, singer, and human rights activist. In Iran, solo female singers are legally prohibited from recording, releasing, or performing publicly, a restriction that ultimately forced Gola into exile. In Mortician, she not only brings her presence to the screen but also helped articulate and expand on Kahani’s vision during the discussion, drawing from her own background as a performer navigating restrictions and freedoms.
In conversation with Susanda Wolf.
Susanda I saw the film. Great film. So how did you come to actually decide to make the film? What was it that made you want to go ahead with it?
Abdolreza Kahani: The fact that I created a film is because I’m a director and a filmmaker, so I had to make it. I had to create it. But why this film? The subject was really important. It mattered so much to me, and I had to make it right now. And the urgency of it was really important to me.
Susanda: The acting was fantastic.It was very, very natural. It was very easy to get into the film. You didn’t feel like you were watching a film, which is always a good thing. There was nothing to bring you out of it. Was it true that you were using one camera? Did I read that correctly, or were there more cameras involved?
Kahani: Yeah. I usually make films with only one camera, and I don’t like when there are too many cameras because the value of that one camera, in my mind, reduces. So I just like one camera and the importance of it.
Gola: As the actress was experiencing it, Reza was only using his iPhone, with no gadget connected to it at all, with no lighting. It was only natural light, and with one sound system that was planted each time we filmed. So when you brought up the one camera, it was actually one iPhone. He edited everything himself, it was all him.
Kahani: The way that it was made, and my way of thinking, my thought process, is a really long process to talk about. But if I want to mention something very small, it would be this: it’s like it has a totally different culture.
When you make a film with one little camera, I had to change my personality. I had to change my character. I have made films that had 40–50 members in the crew. When you make a film with a big camera, so many people gather together. It’s crowded. But when you make a film with one little iPhone and no one gathers, you become small. You become little. You’re no longer that big director with the camera — and it feels totally different. At that point, the story comes to your iPhone and you’re living it, and you become one of them.
There isn’t so much going on — like a boom, people, a crane, everything — then you can concentrate more on what’s happening. On the art and the act of creating the film. Rather than thinking, Oh my God, who’s going to sleep where in the hotel tonight? Where’s the light going? Where’s the camera going?
It was less of those things, and more about creation.
Susanda: How did that feel for you, having only one camera? Did it feel like making a film, or more like simply living an experience?
Nima Sadrzadeh: I had this experience last year with the filming of A Shrine. Now you can see it on Apple TV. Last year it came into my life, and it followed me. This year, I got used to it. It was easier for me, actually.
It’s harder to act when there are 50 people around you behind the camera, that’s not easy. But with the cellphone, you don’t feel like there’s something watching you, and so you act easier. It feels natural.
Susanda: Were there particular times that you felt it was difficult?
Nima: When we have someone like Reza leading us, everything’s easy in cinema for us, because he, in a way, leads us. He explains to you how he wants you to act — the voice, everything. To me, everything comes from the director, from Reza.
Susanda: It sounds like you became a very, very close family on this film.
Gola: Exactly. We were four people, and for four months we were together, sharing everything. All of life: eating together, making the film together, enjoying together. It was like a small group, like a small family. We lived together.
Kahani: It was only four of us. We really lived together.
Gola: And for Nima, as you said, he was following this act, this role-playing, for one or two months before shooting. He started becoming emotional, becoming quiet, just talking one or two words. Because he’s my spouse, I noticed it. He didn’t explain, he just practiced, answering one word, two words, being silent.
But as a woman, I was talking, talking. And he was quiet. But with Reza following him with the camera, it became easy. Because you’re full of emotion, no one is looking at you, and you just follow your life.
Gola: My experience was a little bit different. When they contacted me and said this was a “one-man cinema,” just one iPhone, he said, I warn you, this is very different from what we did in Los Angeles. I said, I’m open to everything. I love a challenge. I love a good challenge. He said, Yes, but it’s different. I’m warning you.
When I arrived on the first day of filming, there was one camera. As a singer and actress, I usually don’t notice cameras, I can absolutely ignore the biggest cameras and cranes. But this time, I couldn’t. It was so intimidating. It was crazy. We had to train for two or three days for me to get used to one iPhone being present. It was hard to get used to. But we practiced and practiced, and then I got used to the whole system and the technique. Still, it was different for me. Nima made friends with it immediately.
People think it’s easy. They say, You’re just playing yourself in the film. But we did a lot of rehearsals and exercises before filming. For instance, as preparation for Mojtaba, the practice Reza did with Nima was this: Go and buy your clothes yourself. Then I’ll know how much you’ve understood the character I have in my mind.
So he went shopping for the clothes you see in the film. He sent photos to Reza, saying, These are the clothes I’m buying. And Reza said, Okay, then you’ve got the character. Now you know who you are.
Susanda: Excellent. So, the Edinburgh Film Festival — how did the film end up here?
Kahani: What happened was that our film was selected by Paul. He liked the film and wanted us to be here. He’s the person who really understood my technique, my way of filming. And I’m very excited that he has followed my journey in such detail.
He understood and realized that this is a new way of going forward, a new season in my career of filmmaking.
Journalist: If you had to describe the film in a few words, how would you do that?
Kahani: In three words… Woman. Life. Freedom.