Céline Roustan

The story of a son trying to honor the dying wishes of his late father, by following the Islamic burial rituals. In How To Bury Your Father, writer/director Ammar Keshodia explores a facet of the immigrant experience, through a narrative centered around loss and traditions. With a tender lens, Keshodia invites us into the intimacy of his protagonist as they deal with their grief and a deep sense of responsibility.

“I’m haunted by the question of whether I’ll be able to do right by them when the time comes”

When it comes to funeral traditions, cultural differences can make it especially complicated for immigrants to follow every rule. Any child wants to do right by their parents, but for first-generation immigrants, it can sometimes be difficult to feel connected to the process, let alone know how to navigate every step. Yet it is an important moment that, for obvious reasons, we all want to respect.

Keshodia confessed, “Growing up in Canada for most of my life, I feel disconnected from my parents’ culture, and I’m haunted by the question of whether I’ll be able to do right by them when the time comes.” While the protagonist cannot find the white sheet required in Islamic burial traditions, he tries to stay as close as possible to that tradition with what he has available where he is. The way Keshodia captures his isolation in this moment is incredibly compelling and layered, touching on how children imitate their parents until, eventually, they no longer are imitating anymore.

Jai Mohit stars in How to Bury Your Father.

Keshodia surprised us when he cites his love for horror films as one of the origins of the project. He explained that it was the genre’s use of imagery and metaphor to depict anxiety that inspired him, in addition to how Babk Anvari’s Under the Shadow and Joko Anwar’s Satan’s Slaves borrow imagery from Islam. He also subverts expectations by surprising the audience with the ambition of the final scene. The writing is undeniably impressive, taking us on such a poignant emotional journey with very little dialogue.

Shot on 16mm by DP Julian Lomaga, the images perfectly enhance the depth of the screenplay, immersing us in an atmosphere that makes every emotion at play feel even more powerful. The score, composed by Arie Verheul van de Ven (No Crying at the Dinner Table), is also a very important element of the film. The fact that they keep on using the same melody throughout and play with the sound design to keep us on our toes makes the film all the more engaging. 

Keshodia is currently working on two new projects, Where Water Was, a short film going into production over the Summer of 2026, set in a near future where water has become so scarce that swimming is not a thing anymore – a “meditation on the things we lose as time marches on” – as well as a sci-fi feature (his first) in development currently titled Coming of Rage.