Kaveh Nabatian
Born
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Occupations
  • Director
  • writer
  • producer
  • composer
  • cinematographer

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]

Career

As a filmmaker Nabatian is 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 a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022 for Sin La Habana.[11]

He has also directed music videos for artists including Bell Orchestre,[12] Leif Vollebekk,[13] The Barr Brothers, Sarah Neufeld, Little Scream,[14] Lakou Mizik & Joseph Ray[15] and Half Moon Run.[16]

Filmography

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 Documentary

Discography

Bell Orchestre

Awards and nominations

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 [17]
Genie Awards Best Live Action Short Drama Vapor Nominated [18]
Prix Iris Best Short Nominated [19]
Toronto International Film Festival RBC Emerging Filmmaker Saturday Night Nominated
2020 Festival du nouveau cinéma Prix de la diffusion Quebecor Without Havana Won [20]
2021 Directors Guild of Canada DGC Discovery Award Nominated [21]
Miami International Film Festival Jordan Ressler First Feature Award Nominated [22]
Les Percéides Grand Prix du Jury Won
Reelworld Film Festival Standout Director Won [23]
Standout Writer Won
Vancouver International Film Festival Best Canadian Feature Film Won [24]

References

  1. ^ Allie Gregory, "Bell Orchestre Return with 'IX: Nature That's It That's All,' Sign to Erased Tapes". Exclaim!, October 20, 2020.
  2. ^ Mark Redfern, "Bell Orchestre Announce First New Album in 12 Years, Share New Song “V: Movement”". Under the Radar, January 8, 2021.
  3. ^ "‘Barney’s Version,’ ‘Incendies’ top Genie noms". Variety, February 2, 2011.
  4. ^ Marc Cassivi, "Soirée des Jutra: Incendies, favori d'un cru relevé". La Presse, February 9, 2011.
  5. ^ "Canada's Top Ten for 2010". nowtoronto.com. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  6. ^ "Montréal et Radio-Canada célèbrent Leonard Cohen en novembre". Ici Radio-Canada, November 2, 2017.
  7. ^ Justine Smith, "Anthology film The Seven Last Words is unified by music and human vulnerability". Cult MTL, June 14, 2019.
  8. ^ "The Seven Last Words". iffr.com. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  9. ^ "SIN LA HABANA". filmthreat.com. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  10. ^ ""Sin La Habana", a film with dance, rituals, Cuban drama and a Canadian look". spainsnews.com. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  11. ^ Brent Furdyk, "2022 Canadian Screen Award Nominees Announced, ‘Sort Of’ & ‘Scarborough’ Lead The Pack". ET Canada, February 15, 2022.
  12. ^ Madison Bloom, "Bell Orchestre Announce Album, Share Video for New Song: Watch". Pitchfork, January 7, 2021.
  13. ^ Brock Thiessen, "Leif Vollebekk Returns with 'New Ways' LP". Exclaim!, June 18, 2019.
  14. ^ Sarah Murphy, "Little Scream: 'Silent Moon' (video)". Exclaim!, March 21, 2017.
  15. ^ "Joseph Ray on Leave the Bones with Lakou Mizik". afropop.org. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  16. ^ Jeanette Kelly, "Half Moon Run's latest music video pushes boundaries to create mini-movie". CBC News Montreal, April 11, 2016.
  17. ^ "2011 Directors Guild of Canada Awards - winners". chinokino.com. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  18. ^ "Genie Nominations!!!". cinemablographer.com. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  19. ^ "Jutra 2011: Incendies rafle tout". filmsquebec.com. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
  20. ^ ""Atlantis", "Sin La Habana" et "Judy vs Capitalism" au palmarès du FNC". Métro. October 19, 2020.
  21. ^ "DGC Discovery Award Long List Announced". dgc.ca. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  22. ^ "Miami Film Festival Announces 2021 Lineup With a Strong Latin American Selection". cinematropical.com. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  23. ^ "2021 REELWORLD FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS". reelworld.ca. Archived from the original on 2022-02-10. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  24. ^ "Vancouver International Film Fest announces award winners". straight.com. Retrieved 2022-02-07.

External links

Bell Orchestre
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