Film archive, 2026

Trees are Watching

Director Bahman Ghobadi

1Festival entries

★Avg. rating

Daria, a writer, returns to her hometown of Mardin, Turkey, with her deaf daughter. She begins her new novel in a forest house; memories of twin girls from her childhood resurface. The surrounding land is ravaged by deforestation, with only two trees standing as if commemorating the twins. Dalia begins to lose the distinction between reality, memory, and fantasy... Bahman Ghobadi, known for socially conscious work, steps into the world of genre cinema with Trees Are Watching, incorporating witch legends and other horror elements, while conveying a message about the destruction of nature caused by excessive development.

Stills5

Film details

Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Country/Region: Türkiye
Year: 2026
Length: 106min
Original language: English
Elsewhere: Letterboxd IMDb Wikidata TMDB Douban

Director

Bahman Ghobadi

Bahman Ghobadi was born on September 2, 1968 in Baneh, a city near the Iran-Iraq border in the province of Kurdistan, Iran. A breakthrough came with Life in a Fog (1998), one of the most acclaimed shorts ever made in Iran. In the wake of being awarded several different International Awards, Ghobadi attracted international attention and established himself as a pioneer of Kurdish cinema.

From Tokyo International Film Festival 2026, No. 39

Credits

Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Screenplay: Bahman Ghobadi
Producer: Bahman Ghobadi, Seyfi Sahin, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Golriz Ehtiati
Cinematography: Saba Mazloum, Touraj Aslani
Editing: Farbod Khoshtinat
Cast: Eva Green, Murat Yildirim, Zeynep Camci, Neva Kus, Ronya Rahmani, Sevin Ahmadpoor, Özlem TAŞ

Festival appearances1

Choose a festival entry to see its screenings, articles and audience reviews.

Trees Are WatchingTokyo International Film Festival 2026, No. 39Competition

Festival history1

东京国际电影节, 2026Competition, Competitive section

Film posters

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