Mortician, a quietly powerful Canadian feature made with nothing more than an iPhone and a handful of committed performers has won the Edinburgh International Film festival Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence 

Written, shot and edited by Iranian-born filmmaker Abdolreza Kahani, had its world premiere in Competition at EIFF and it’s already sparking interest for its unconventional approach and emotional intensity.

Set within Canada’s Iranian expatriate community, the film follows a solitary funeral washer whose routine is unexpectedly interrupted when a dissident singer in hiding reaches out with an unusual request. What begins as a simple act of help slowly develops into an unexpected and deeply human relationship.

Kahani – known for award-winning features such as Over There and Twenty – shot the entire film on his own, using a single iPhone and natural light. “I’ve worked with crews of 50 people,” he says, “but for this story I needed to become small… When you shoot with one little phone and no gear, you don’t direct the film from outside, you’re living it.”

Over the course of four months, the director lived and worked closely with the actors, gradually exploring the characters and building a film that feels lived rather than performed. “It was only four of us… making film together. Enjoying together. It was like a small family.”

What makes Mortician remarkable isn’t just its minimalist production, but how that minimalism creates space for something honest, fragile and emotionally disarming. It’s a reminder that you don’t need a big crew or expensive equipment to make a story feel real — just the right people, the right subject, and the courage to approach it with heart.

^{Content Warning: Abuse, Blood, Death and dying, PTSD, Sexism and misogyny, Suicide}