Scorsese Joins Ghobadi's 'Trees Are Watching' as EP — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Martin Scorsese has joined 'Trees Are Watching' as executive producer ahead of its TIFF world premiere this Friday, deepening a collaboration with Bahman Ghobadi that stretches back years.
- In 2012, Scorsese presented Ghobadi's 'Rhino Season' at its TIFF World Premiere; Ghobadi later spent time on the sets of 'The Wolf of Wall Street' and 'The Irishman,' appearing in one scene of the latter.
- 'Trees Are Watching' is a psychological horror following Darya (Eva Green), a novelist who returns with her deaf daughter to her hometown of Mardin, where memories, a Kurdish legend and environmental destruction converge.
- Ghobadi has called the film deeply personal, shaped by 18 years of exile and his reflections on the connection between humanity and the natural world.
- Ghobadi and actor Murat Yıldırım will attend the Toronto premiere; the film is produced by Seyfi Sahin, Ghobadi, Lydia Dean Pilcher and Golriz Ehtiati, with Scorsese, Lucas Akoskin and Bahoz Nasradin as EPs, presented by Open the Door as a MIJ Film production.
- Ghobadi is a festival regular whose films have played at Cannes, Berlin, San Sebastian and TIFF, with credits including 'A Time for Drunken Horses,' 'Turtles Can Fly,' 'Half Moon' and 'No One Knows About Persian Cats.'
Why it matters: Scorsese lending his name as EP adds marquee visibility to a Kurdish-Iranian filmmaker's TIFF bow, giving 'Trees Are Watching' a stronger international launch pad than a typical festival debut. For Ghobadi, who has spent 18 years in exile, the Scorsese endorsement concretely extends a years-long mentorship into a producing credit on his most personal project yet.
Ask SkimNews
