Grappling Grace 2026

Directed by Alex Kiehl

A jazz-dancing Iranian-British wrestler opens a healing dojo inside a church, armed with a belief that wrestling and kindness will save the world. Nicknamed the Iranian Billy Elliot, Saeed Esmaeli has created a unique type of therapy for the beautiful misfits of society. However, when his mother suffers a sudden stroke everything changes. Caring for her strips away his certainty as the spiralling cost of care threatens to leave them homeless. Saeed's revolutionary work with offenders, refugees and neurodivergent children has been recognised by an honorary doctorate and an award from King Charles. GRAPPLING GRACE is about grief disguised as comedy and therapy disguised as combat. An uplifting short film about healing, creativity and the small acts that keep us human.