Abbas Kiarostami Quotes

The one-word cinema wasn't possible for me anymore. I'd hit a wall, a dead end. Therefore I thought I'd turn back.

Close-Up has affected later films that I've made.

The Iranian government as a whole has no relationship with my films. They're not particularly interested, perhaps this kind of cinema is not very interesting to them.

Using non-actors has its own rules and really requires that you allow them to do their own thing.

I don't like reverse-angle shots - I find them very fake and very untruthful to the viewer.

If I do continue to have the opportunity to work in Iran, that's very much what I'd prefer to do.

Having an international voice is not really about whether we speak Persian or any other language.

The digital camera has given me total freedom and a different way of filming.

Therefore, when you see the end result, it's difficult to see who's the director, me or them. Ultimately, everything belongs to the actors - we just manage the situation.

I don't have very complete scripts for my films. I have a general outline and a character in my mind, and I make no notes until I find the character who's in my mind in reality.

I think I really produce my best work in Iran.

I think Woody Allen is Woody Allen, and no matter where he goes he still makes his Woody Allen films.

If we're not going to take full advantage of digital, then 35mm is a better medium. Especially for shooting dramas - I have no problem with 35mm.

In real life, when someone's partner calls them, they can tell from the first word their partner says what their mood is.

As long as I take the responsibility of the choice, I have to make the choice that is as right as possible.

I really haven't seen The Report in a long time. I don't have a copy, but I'll have to see it again. I think it would be good to put both these men next to each other.

I do believe that a film like Ten could never have been made with a 35mm camera. The first part of the film lasts 17 minutes, and by the end of that part, the kid has totally forgotten the camera.

There are certainties in existence, but love is something much harder to define than light and dark, life and death. I think saying you are "like" someone in love sounds right.

I only make notes, I don't write dialogues in full. And the notes are very much based on my knowledge of person.

A digital camera does have many advantages and I was a believer that digital video would be a big influence on film-making.

I prefer the countryside to cities. This is also true of my films: I have made more films in rural societies, and villages, than in towns.

I do think that we are sometimes, as directors, guilty of portraying or asking our actors to behave in certain ways that are perhaps not very morally acceptable. I'm not the only one.

I don't generally derive my stories from novels. I try to turn into film things I have felt or experienced.

It's very true that non-actors feel more comfortable in front of a digital camera, without the lights and the large crowd around them, and we arrive at much more intimate moments with them.

This [the earthquake] was a very big influence on me, and the issue of life and death from then on does recur in my films.

Despite the great advantages of digital video and the great ease of using the medium, still those who use it have first to understand the sensitivities of how to best use the medium.

I can only display what I've been nurtured with, which is this worldview which has become my view. If I displayed anything different from it in my work, I wouldn't deserve this heritage.

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

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.

When you look at nature, you see a hidden mystery that gives a special flavor to the photograph.