Martin Scorsese has officially joined the psychological horror film Trees Are Watching as an executive producer, just days before its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The film, written and directed by acclaimed Iranian Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi, stars Eva Green as a novelist who returns to her hometown with her deaf daughter and becomes haunted by childhood memories and a supernatural presence tied to a pair of trees and a mysterious wooden chair. The world premiere is scheduled for Friday, September 18, 2026, as part of TIFF’s Centrepiece programme.
The Story Behind Trees Are Watching
Trees Are Watching follows Darya (Eva Green), a writer obsessed with the spiritual resonance of trees, who returns to her hometown of Mardin in Turkey with her deaf daughter to work on a new book. Darya stays in the former family home of twin sisters Spin and Nihal, whom she knew as a child. The house is bordered by mass deforestation, with only two ominous trees remaining—planted as memorials for each sister.
Darya’s unease grows when she begins receiving nightly visitations from a malignant entity that takes the form of an ordinary wooden chair made from local timber. As these encounters become more frightening, she starts digging through her complicated history with the twins. Nihal had her own terrifying childhood experiences involving a maternal witch she believed was hiding in a noisy toilet. As Darya becomes consumed by those memories and the supernatural activity around her, her sanity begins to slip.
The film blends psychological horror with local Kurdish myth, exploring themes of environmental destruction, grief, memory, and folklore. TIFF programmer Peter Kuplowsky describes the film as featuring “surreal set pieces that ebb with heightened phantasmagoric stylization and sometimes full-blown Grand Guignol spectacle,” including a thrilling sequence that recalls the American Final Destination series.
Scorsese and Ghobadi’s Longtime Collaboration
The partnership between Martin Scorsese and Bahman Ghobadi stretches back over a decade. In 2012, Scorsese presented Ghobadi’s film Rhino Season during its world premiere at TIFF. Their relationship continued in New York, where Ghobadi spent time on the sets of Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman. Ghobadi even appeared in one scene of The Irishman, playing a prison cook who serves Jimmy Hoffa.
Scorsese has been a longtime supporter of Ghobadi and his work. The Iranian Kurdish filmmaker is a festival regular whose films have played at Cannes, Berlin, San Sebastian, and TIFF. He is known for movies including A Time for Drunken Horses, Turtles Can Fly, Half Moon, and No One Knows About Persian Cats.
Ghobadi described Trees Are Watching as deeply personal, “shaped in part by the nightmares that have followed his 18 years of exile and his reflections on the connection between humanity and the natural world”.
Eva Green Leads a Strong Cast
Eva Green leads the cast as Darya, a role that TIFF programmer Peter Kuplowsky praised as “extraordinary”. Green is known for her work in Casino Royale, Penny Dreadful, and Dark Shadows, and has a natural talent for characters caught in dark, dreamlike situations.
Joining Green is Turkish star Murat Yıldırım, along with several child actors. The cast also includes Lucas Akoskin, Zeynep Çamci, Eren Demir, and Ozlem Tas. Lebanese actress Iman Albani makes a special appearance as a tourist guide in the film, sharing a photo with Eva Green on social media ahead of the premiere.
Production and Release Details
Trees Are Watching is produced by Seyfi Sahin, Bahman Ghobadi, Lydia Dean Pilcher, and Golriz Ehtiati. Alongside Scorsese, the executive producers include Lucas Akoskin and Bahoz Nasradin. The film is presented by Open the Door and is a MIJ Film production.
The film runs 106 minutes and is in Kurdish, Turkish, and English languages. Cinematography is handled by Saba Mazloum and Touraj Aslani.
The world premiere takes place on Friday, September 18, 2026, at TIFF. Ghobadi and actor Murat Yıldırım are expected to be in Toronto for the premiere. No theatrical or streaming release date has been announced yet beyond the festival premiere.
Early Reactions and Festival Buzz
A Letterboxd review described the film as “Kurdish-Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi’s first stab at horror,” noting it gets “lost somewhere between the modern haunted house family trauma horror and some straight up supernatural Italian horror weirdness”. The review also mentioned “Kurdish folk horror lore about punishment and reincarnation through trees/wooden objects” and “nature getting Final Destination 2 revenge on plumbers, abusive mothers turning into toilet witches, violent fight scenes with flying chairs”.
TIFF’s official description highlights the film’s blend of “psychological horror with local myth” and notes that Ghobadi “explores humanity’s often unharmonious relationship with the natural world with his signature emotional humanism, but also a remarkably playful proclivity for the tropes and traditions of supernatural horror”.
Related:
Scorsese’s Growing Horror Resume
The executive producer role on Trees Are Watching adds to Scorsese’s growing list of horror production credits. In 2026, Scorsese served as an executive producer on Apple TV’s horror thriller Cape Fear TV adaptation and The Basics of Philosophy. His involvement in the genre continues to expand even as his directorial efforts remain focused on other projects.
Trees Are Watching marks another collaboration between Scorsese and Ghobadi, reinforcing a creative partnership that has spanned more than a decade. The film’s premiere at TIFF places it among the festival’s most talked-about titles this year, with its unique blend of environmental horror, Kurdish folklore, and psychological terror.
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