Empty Heaven

Abdolreza Kahani (A Shrine, Mortician, winner of The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, EIFF 2025) returns to EIFF once more with a confidently and cleverly crafted character study. When a lonely Iranian dissident becomes embroiled with a local criminal mob in Canada, their bullish bidding leads to complex turns of events. Clean, inventive cinematography and beautifully calibrated performances set against frosty Canadian snowscapes, this is a crisp, lean and dry-humoured thriller rich in thematic depth that once again demonstrates Kahani’s mastery of cinema. – Emma Boa