Ahead of its theatrical release slated for mid-November, The Things You Kill was submitted as the Canadian Oscar entry for Best International Film at next year’s Academy Awards.
Whether or not it will be selected as a nominee will be decided when the fifteen-film shortlist releases on December 16, and the finalists get announced in January. Directed by Alireza Khatami, the film stars Ekin Koç, Erkan Kolçak Köstendil, and Hazar Ergüçlü.
The film follows Ali (Koç), a Turkish professor teaching in the United States. When his mother (Ergüçlü) suddenly passes away, he immediately becomes suspicious. His deep-seated hatred for his absent father begins to boil over, and things come to a head when Ali meets Reza (Köstendil), a mysterious man who would eventually become his gardener. Ali and Reza become companions of sort, and Ali coerces Reza into killing his father for him. As the pit of guilt and fear opens below him, Ali is forced to reckon with Lynchian soul-searching and scarily harsh truths as everything begins to unravel, himself included.
The Things You Kill was met with major acclaim at Sundance Film Festival this year, where it won Khatami a directing award for Dramatic World Cinema. It also was shown at the Istanbul Film Festival, paying respects to the film’s setting of Turkey, where it was nominated for seven different awards—five of them being for Khatami’s direction and writing.
It opens in theaters on November 14, 2025.
“In my view, we’re living in a historical moment where established discourses are unraveling, and there’s a troubling tendency to regress to the past. The darkest chapters of history are repeating themselves right before our eyes, driven by a deeply entrenched macho, patriarchal system,” says Khatami in a conversation for the film. “Now, more than ever, we need to look inward and ask ourselves: What have we done, and who have we become? What fuels this perpetual urge for violence, and who will break free from this cycle?”
Carlos Aguilar from Variety highlights Ali and Reza’s contrasting natures in his review, saying, “In playing Ali, a searing Koç keeps his seething thirst for retribution underneath contained exasperation and disbelief, which effectively contrasts the macho rogue confidence in Köstendil’s imposing turn as Reza. The pairing creates a type of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde relationship. Even as viewers become aware of the dichotomy that rules over ‘The Things You Kill,’ Kathami cleverly expands its meaning with each revelation.“
Watch the official trailer for The Things You Kill above.
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