Set in the heart of the Middle-Eastern community in modern-day Vancouver, Kayan is a multifarious story of belonging, loyalty and love. Hanin, a Lebanese independent single mother of two, struggles to keep her restaurant, Kayan, afloat. Unexpected revelations in her private life coincide with complications in the lives of her employees and customers. Things take a twisted turn

Three lonely people, each looking for love in their own ways. This is hard enough in any big city – never mind in Tehran, where individual freedoms can’t be taken for granted. In a sexy voice on the telephone, an overweight receptionist seduces men who wouldn’t look twice at her real ‘me’. A former bodybuilding champion now earns a living as a personal trainer. When he develops feelings for a promising young sportsman as a client; he drops everything else; even a very promising acting job for a well-known French director. A singer at religious funerals is dumped by his fiancée. He tries to find new purpose in life by retraining as a singer at weddings and parties. That’s a lot more attractive to women, his friend assures him.

Three lonely people, each looking for love in their own ways. This is hard enough in any big city – never mind in Tehran, where individual freedoms can’t be taken for granted. In a sexy voice on the telephone, an overweight receptionist seduces men who wouldn’t look twice at her real ‘me’. A former bodybuilding champion now earns a living as a personal trainer. When he develops feelings for a promising young sportsman as a client; he drops everything else; even a very promising acting job for a well-known French director. A singer at religious funerals is dumped by his fiancée. He tries to find new purpose in life by retraining as a singer at weddings and parties. That’s a lot more attractive to women, his friend assures him.

A solar eclipse has brought people to the edge of madness. The Earth witnesses extreme brutality manifested by the need to make terrible sacrifices to an unknown evil. How could this have happened? Is this the wrath of God? Such is the view of a group of extremists who are quick to deal with those responsible. But who decides who is guilty and who is not? Vahid Vakilifar’s fourth film offers an intoxicating, visionary sci-fi which, in spite of the darkness consuming the world, believes in the power of light. Even the goriest images conceal at least a sliver of hope; they serve as a necessary ritual if we are to accept the demons that inhabit us all.

A solar eclipse has brought people to the edge of madness. The Earth witnesses extreme brutality manifested by the need to make terrible sacrifices to an unknown evil. How could this have happened? Is this the wrath of God? Such is the view of a group of extremists who are quick to deal with those responsible. But who decides who is guilty and who is not? Vahid Vakilifar’s fourth film offers an intoxicating, visionary sci-fi which, in spite of the darkness consuming the world, believes in the power of light. Even the goriest images conceal at least a sliver of hope; they serve as a necessary ritual if we are to accept the demons that inhabit us all.