'The Things You Kill' Director Alireza Khatami Dares Audiences to 'Almost Leave' His Exhilarating Canadian Oscar Entry

"Comparisons to Abbas Kiarostami and David Lynch set a high bar for filmmaker Alireza Khatami, an Iranian who now lives in Canada, and his masterful " The Things You Kill " at Sundance. This unsettling thriller about impotent (emotionally, literally) university professor Ali (Turkish star Ekin Koç), on the path to vengeance after the suspicious death of his mother, scored strong reviews (including my own) and the World Cinema Directing Award out of the Utah festival."

"It now represents Canada in the 2026 Best International Feature race and is undoubtedly one of the most formally bold works in foreign Oscar contention. What appears on its head as a social-realist drama in the vein of, say, Asghar Farhadi, takes a sharp hairpin turn in the second half, upending its own premise when the professor confronts an enigmatic gardener who may be an extension of himself, and his own worst impulses."

""One of my sisters went to a festival, without telling me, to watch it, and that was emotional," Khatami told IndieWire over Zoom. "I begged her not to tell anybody else. If my family sees it, they will recognize everything. Even the names [of Ali's sisters] Nesrin and Meriam ... [are the names] of two of my siblings. Anybody who sees this movie who knows me on an intimate level. The core of this movie is 100 percent based on truth.""

Alireza Khatami’s The Things You Kill centers on university professor Ali, emotionally and literally impotent, who seeks vengeance after his mother's suspicious death. The film begins as a social-realist drama and pivots sharply in the second half when Ali confronts an enigmatic gardener who may represent an extension of himself and his darkest impulses. A destabilizing cast change amplifies the protagonist’s collapse. The movie won the World Cinema Directing Award at Sundance, received strong reviews, now represents Canada for the 2026 Best International Feature Oscar, and draws heavily on Khatami’s personal experiences and family parallels.

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