Kaveh Nabatian

Director/Cinematographer/Musician

In the late 18th century, Josef Haydn was commissioned to create a composition based on the Bible’s Seven Last Words of Christ. In homage to the music and its evocative themes, I developed a seven-part film to be projected during performances of the piece by the London-based Callino String Quartet. Seven accomplished filmmakers from different cultures, religions, and cinematic approaches each created a film to accompany a “word” and its sonata. The films are highly personal and diverse interpretations of the music and the theme of the “word”.

The Seven Last Words

Leonardo, a classical dancer, and Sara, a lawyer, are young, beautiful and in love. They’re also ambitious, but their dreams are thwarted by Cuba’s closed borders. Their ticket to a brighter future lies with Nasim, a tourist with a taste for the exotic. An Iranian-born Canadian, she’s struggling with her own demons. Power, money, creativity and destiny intertwine in a passionate love triangle with a hint of magic, where cultures clash in a torrid dance between Quebec’s winter and Havana’s sultry Malecón.

Canadian Screen Award Nominations: Best First Feature, Best Screenplay
Prix Iris Nominations: Best First Feature (won), Best Sound, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Revelation of the Year, Best Cinematography, Best Director
Best Canadian Film (Vancouver IFF), Best Director (BendFilm), Best Cinematography (Ashland IFF), Prix de la Diffusion for Outstanding Film (Festival du Nouveau Cinéma)

Sin La Habana

A music video I made for my man Leif Vollebekk on a deserted beach in Florida. We danced up and down this path at magic hour until we got kicked out by the rangers.

Leif Vollebekk - Elegy (Official Music Video)

On the night of August 14, 1791, a Vodou ritual took place in Bois-Caïman that became the precursor to a mass uprising against slavery and the birth of Haiti, the world’s first Black independent republic. Since then, ceremonies of artistic and religious expression have been a mainstay of Haitian culture and its resistance to external oppression, poverty and natural disaster.

Working hand in hand with local dancers, musicians, fishermen, daredevil rollerbladers, and priests, this documentary feature provides a sensory immersion into these sacred rites. Set to the rhythms of the Lakou Mizik group and Joseph Ray and the poetry of Wood-Jerry Gabriel, KITE ZO A: Leave the Bones is an intoxicating creative and spiritual experience.

Official Screenings: SXSW, Miami IFF, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (International Panorama Audience Award), Reelworld (Outstanding Cinematographer), DOXA

Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones

In this music video for Half Moon Run, a man starts a New Age movement in Mexico. When it gets too big, he  loses his grip on reality. Tequila meets yoga meets madness in a resort town.

Kaveh Nabatian

Director/Cinematographer/Musician

Sin La Habana

Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones

The Seven Last Words

Leif Vollebekk - Elegy (Official Mu...

Half Moon Run - Consider Yourself (...