Abdolreza Kahani

Abdolreza Kahani (Persian: عبدالرضا کاهانی; born 22 December 1973) is an expatriate Iranian filmmaker, who currently works principally in France and Canada. He made his first short film, The Smile, in 1988. He made his first feature film, Dance with the Moon, in 2003. In 2009, Kahani's film Twenty won the Special Jury Prize and the Prize of Ecumenical Jury at the 44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The film observes a small band of employees trying to save a depressed Iranian banquet hall which the owner has decided to close in 20 days. Several of his films were censored for political reasons by the government of Iran, most notably the 2016 film Delighted. He emigrated to France in the mid-2010s, and has since worked with French and Canadian production companies. Isthmus, released in 2021, marked his English-language debut. He subsequently released the films You Won't See Winter, Nina and A Shrine. In 2025, his film Mortician won the Sean Connery Prize at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.