Quotes by Abbas Kiarostami

About Abbas Kiarostami:

Abbas Kiarostami is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. An active filmmaker since 1970, Kiarostami has been involved in over forty films, including shorts and documentaries. Kiarostami attained critical acclaim for directing the Koker trilogy (1987–94), Close-Up (1990), Taste of Cherry (1997) - which was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival that year - and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999). In his recent works, Certified Copy (2010) and Like Someone in Love (2012), he filmed for the first time outside Iran: in Italy and Japan, respectively.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A work of art doesn't exist outside the perception of the audience.

Abbas Kiarostami

The calling of art is to extract us from our daily reality, to bring us to a hidden truth that's difficult to access - to a level that's not material but spiritual.

Abbas Kiarostami

I think I really produce my best work in Iran.

Abbas Kiarostami

Digital photography is, by definition, unfinished. You don't feel that after every 24 or 36 shots you have to change your film - you know you can go on for ever if you want. You can see the result immediately, and find out if your original idea is wo...

Abbas Kiarostami

The world is my workshop. It is not my home.

Abbas Kiarostami

Good cinema is what we can believe, and bad cinema is what we can't believe.

Abbas Kiarostami

I really think that I don't mind people sleeping during my films, because I know that some very good films might prepare you for sleeping or falling asleep or snoozing. It's not to be taken badly at all. This is something I really mean.

Abbas Kiarostami

A good movie is made by an initial burst of energy, the way that, when you are in school, your class exercises are always better than your final projects.

Abbas Kiarostami

Cinema gives you the opportunity to be both a grandparent and a grandchild whereas in life you cannot be both at the same time.

Abbas Kiarostami

Cinema seats make people lazy. They expect to be given all the information. But for me, question marks are the punctuation of life.

Abbas Kiarostami

I film normal-life subjects in natural settings that some people would consider uncinematic. But what I want to show is nature itself, as the truth of life.

Abbas Kiarostami

There is violence in real life but I would never impose violence in a film just to attract the audience.

Abbas Kiarostami

All the different nations in the world, despite their differences of appearance and religion and language and way of life, still have one thing in common, and that is what's inside of all of us. If we X-rayed the insides of different human beings, we...

Abbas Kiarostami

My way of expression is full of complications and mystery because that's my perception of life.

Abbas Kiarostami

I spend a lot of time doing carpentry. Sometimes there is nothing that gives me the contentment that sawing a piece of wood does.

Abbas Kiarostami

In the total darkness, poetry is still there, and it is there for you.

Abbas Kiarostami

Poetry always runs away from you - it's very difficult to grasp it, and every time you read it, depending on your conditions, you will have a different grasp of it. Whereas with a novel, once you have read it, you have grasped it.

Abbas Kiarostami

Religion works on some people but not on everyone, because it says, 'Stop thinking and accept what I tell you.' That's not valid for people who want to think and reflect.

Abbas Kiarostami

I would be too selfish if I said everyone should see my movies more than once. To say that would mean I'm just marketing my work!

Abbas Kiarostami

Some movies bring out the creativity in you. Every single audience member can become creative in the face of a particular movie. If you happen to like my films, it's because my films provide a bed for you on which you can find your creativity. The Ho...

Abbas Kiarostami

Author Bio

  • NameAbbas Kiarostami
  • DescriptionIranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer
  • BornJune 22, 1940
  • CountryIran
  • ProfessionFilm Director; Screenwriter; Photographer; Film Producer; Poet
  • AwardsOfficer Of The Legion Of Honour; Konrad Wolf Prize; Praemium Imperiale