At a Glance

• Kurdish director Bahman Ghobadi has premiered his latest film, Trees Are Watching, at TIFF.
• The psychological horror marks Ghobadi’s first film in the horror genre.
• Martin Scorsese serves as an executive producer on the international production.
• The film follows a writer and her deaf daughter through a series of disturbing events in Mardin.

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Kurdish director Bahman Ghobadi has presented his latest feature, Trees Are Watching, at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada, marking his first move into psychological horror.

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Key Statements and Focus Area

• Film Premiere: Trees Are Watching made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
• Scorsese Collaboration: Martin Scorsese serves as an executive producer, continuing his professional connection with Ghobadi.
• Focus Area: The film expands Ghobadi’s work into psychological horror through a story centered on a mother, her deaf daughter, and unsettling events in Mardin.

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Trees Are Watching follows Derya, a female writer who returns to Mardin in Northern Kurdistan with her young deaf daughter. After arriving, she encounters a series of increasingly disturbing psychological events that form the basis of the film's horror narrative.

The project brings together an international cast and production team, with Eva Green, Murat Yildirim, Lucas Akoskin, and Erin Demir among the featured cast.

Lucas Akoskin and Bahoz Nasreddin are listed as producers as well. Ghobadi is also among the main producers, together with Seyfi Sahin, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Golriz Ehtiati, and Efsane Doci.

The film marks another collaboration between Ghobadi and Scorsese. The two previously presented Ghobadi's Rhino Season at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012.

Ghobadi also appeared in a cameo or extra role in Scorsese's 2019 film, The Irishman, extending their professional relationship beyond their earlier festival collaboration.

FYI

Bahman Ghobadi is an internationally recognized Kurdish filmmaker whose work has frequently focused on Kurdish life, identity, and displacement. His films have screened at major international festivals, including Cannes and Toronto.

The Toronto International Film Festival is one of North America's major film festivals and regularly hosts world premieres alongside established international productions. Trees Are Watching adds a new genre to Ghobadi's filmography through its focus on psychological horror.

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