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Kaveh Nabatian is an Iranian-Canadian musician and film director,[1] known as a trumpeter and keyboardist with the Juno Award winning orchestral post-rock band Bell Orchestre.[2]
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As a filmmaker Nabatian was first noted for his 2010 short film Vapor, about an older Mexican man who comes to terms with homosexuality. The film was a Genie Award nominee for Best Live Action Short Drama at the 31st Genie Awards,[3] and a Prix Jutra nominee for Best Short Film at the 13th Jutra Awards, as well as one of TIFF’s Canada's Top Ten films for the year.[4][5]
In 2017, Nabatian directed Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything, a documentary on Leonard Cohen which was broadcast by both CBC Television in English and Ici Radio-Canada Télé in French.[6] In 2019, he was the lead director, alongside Sophie Goyette, Juan Andrés Arango, Sophie Deraspe, Karl Lemieux, Ariane Lorrain and Caroline Monnet, of the experimental anthology film, The Seven Last Words (Les sept dernières paroles), set to the music of Joseph Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross, Op. 51.[7] It premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.[8]
Nabatian's debut feature film, Sin La Habana, about an Afro-Cuban ballet dancer who seduces an Iranian Jewish woman in order to escape Cuba, premiered at the Festival du nouveau cinéma in 2020 before being commercially released in 2021.[9] The film stars Yonah Acosta and was written in collaboration with Cuban hip hop producer Pablo Herrera.[10] He received Canadian Screen Award nominations for the John Dunning Best First Feature Award and Best Original Screenplay at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022 for Sin La Habana.[11] He won the Prix Iris for Best First Film and was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the Gala Québec Cinéma in 2022.[12]
Nabatian’s feature documentary Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones, a sensorial exploration of Haitian rituals, premiered at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma[13] in 2022, where it won the Prix pour la Paix Audience Award. It had its international premiere at South by Southwest in 2023 [14] before going into commercial release. He won the Best Cinematography in a Documentary and was nominated for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 12th Canadian Screen Awards in 2024.[15]
He has also directed music videos for artists including Aurora,[16] Bell Orchestre,[17] Leif Vollebekk,[18] The Barr Brothers, Sarah Neufeld, Little Scream,[19] Lakou Mizik & Joseph Ray[20] and Half Moon Run.[21]
Kaveh Nabatian won the award for Best Cinematography in a Feature Length Documentary at the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards for his work on Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones.[22]
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| Year | Title | Contribution | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | My Brand New Life | Director, cinematographer | TV series |
| 2008 | Facteur humain | Director, cinematographer | TV series |
| 2008 | Sunday Afternoon | Writer, director, composer | Short film |
| 2010 | Taxi Libre | Writer, director | Short film |
| 2010 | Vapor | Writer, director | Short film |
| 2011 | St-Henri, The 26th of August (À St-Henri, le 26 août) | Segment director, cinematographer | Documentary feature |
| 2013 | Dive | Writer, director, composer | Short film |
| 2014 | Nan Lakou Kanaval | Director, cinematographer, producer | Documentary short |
| 2015 | Holika | Director, cinematographer, producer | Documentary short |
| 2017 | Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything | Writer, director, producer | Documentary |
| 2019 | The Seven Last Words (Les sept dernières paroles) | Writer, segment director | Feature film |
| 2020 | Without Havana (Sin la Habana) | Writer, director, composer | Feature film |
| 2022 | Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones | Director, cinematographer, Producer | Documentary |
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Bell Orchestre
- Recording a Tape the Colour of the Light (2005)
- Who Designs Nature's How (2009)
- As Seen Through Windows (2009)
- House Music (2021)
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| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Gémeaux Awards | Multiculture Award | My Brand New Life | Won | |
| 2011 | Directors Guild of Canada | Best Short Film | Taxi Libre | Won | [23] |
| Genie Awards | Best Live Action Short Drama | Vapor | Nominated | [24] | |
| Prix Iris | Best Short | Nominated | [25] | ||
| Toronto International Film Festival | RBC Emerging Filmmaker | Saturday Night | Nominated | ||
| 2020 | Festival du nouveau cinéma | Prix de la diffusion Quebecor | Without Havana | Won | [26] |
| 2021 | Directors Guild of Canada | DGC Discovery Award | Nominated | [27] | |
| Miami International Film Festival | Jordan Ressler First Feature Award | Nominated | [28] | ||
| Les Percéides | Grand Prix du Jury | Won | |||
| Reelworld Film Festival | Standout Director | Won | [29] | ||
| Standout Writer | Won | ||||
| Vancouver International Film Festival | Best Canadian Feature Film | Won | [30] | ||
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