Good cinema is what we can believe, and bad cinema is what we can't believe. — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
Directors don't always create, they can also destroy with too many demands. — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I don't have very complete scripts for my films. I have a general outline and a character in my mind, and I… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I do think that we are sometimes, as directors, guilty of portraying or asking our actors to behave in certain ways that… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
There is violence in real life but I would never impose violence in a film just to attract the audience. — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I prefer the countryside to cities. This is also true of my films: I have made more films in rural societies, and… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I think Woody Allen is Woody Allen, and no matter where he goes he still makes his Woody Allen films. — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
Film is very much a universal and common voice, and we can't limit it to one particular culture. — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
Usually when I take my films to festivals, I feel incredibly anxious about them. I wonder how it will be received, how… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
This [the earthquake] was a very big influence on me, and the issue of life and death from then on does recur… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I had intended to make another film, called Pocket Money, which was to be about children at a school. I was very… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
The only thing that I can do is hold a mirror in front of men and women, in front of the viewer… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I have somewhat lost my enthusiasm in the last years. Mainly because film students using digital video these days have not really… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
It seems that film-makers are being divided between those working in digital and those who are not. I think it's not something… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
In this type of cinema, whether working with actors or non-actors, as much as you do direct them, if you allow yourself… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I never intended to write poems, nor to be a photographer, nor to be a film-maker. I just took many, many pictures… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
When I talk to some of the younger filmmakers, they are so worried about their films that, eventually, this state of being… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
The [Iranian] government grapples with more important issues and we can maybe say that these films don't really exist for them. It's… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
When the film [Certified Copy] was in the Cannes Festival, I realized that the fact of having it shot in a different… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
The kind of sleep that I had during my own film [Certified Copy] screening in Cannes is different. It's not because of… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
When I met Akira Kurosawa in Japan, one question he asked me was, "How did you actually make the children act the… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I have received the digital camera as a blessing. It has really changed my life as a filmmaker, because I don't use… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
When I'm in the process of making a movie I'm not thinking about the finished result, and whether people have to see… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I think the contrast between these two in the professional world of cinema mattered to me. One who has reached the ultimate… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I would say that no film is apolitical. There are politics in all films. Any film that is anchored in a society,… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
Whether you consider me a master filmmaker or not, I do it with my intuition and my vision, my experience as a… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I think, just as footballers play better at home, maybe film-makers, too, create better at home, even though the rules of football… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
A good movie is made by an initial burst of energy, the way that, when you are in school, your class exercises… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I don't generally derive my stories from novels. I try to turn into film things I have felt or experienced. — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
Usually when I write a script, I have in mind some real people that I'm writing about, who don't always act in… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I think life is so difficult to catch, it's so furtive, that a copy, a film, can in no way catch it… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
Therefore, when you see the end result, it's difficult to see who's the director, me or them. Ultimately, everything belongs to the… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
The Iranian government as a whole has no relationship with my films. They're not particularly interested, perhaps this kind of cinema is… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I didn't just see myself as a film director here [in Life And Nothing More], but also as an observer of people… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I would be too selfish if I said everyone should see my movies more than once. To say that would mean I'm… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
Everybody knows that I am not usually patient enough to actually sit down and watch one of my own films from the… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
My films have been progressing towards a certain kind of minimalism, even though it was never intended. Elements which can be eliminated… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I think violence can never be justified. At the same time, nobody’s culture or beliefs should be insulted, that’s not something I can accept… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I would say that no film is apolitical. There are politics in all films. Any film that is anchored in a society, any film… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
In real life, when someone's partner calls them, they can tell from the first word their partner says what their mood is. — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
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… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
This was pointed out to me by somebody who referred to the paintings of Rembrandt and his use of light: some elements are highlighted… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
A work of art doesn't exist outside the perception of the audience. — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
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… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
Unfortunately, cinema critics are very few in America, 400-500 people, but there are more critics of Iran. — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
Usually when I take my films to festivals, I feel incredibly anxious about them. I wonder how it will be received, how the audience… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
My car's my best friend. My office. My home. My location. I have a very intimate sense when I am in a car with… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
It was a film that I knew, that I had seen, that I was familiar with, but I wasn't anxious about it at any… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
I never intended to write poems, nor to be a photographer, nor to be a film-maker. I just took many, many pictures and I… — Abbas Kiarostami Copy Share Image
![“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.” quote by Abbas Kiarostami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ad0/abbas-kiarostami-2631_bigs_this-the-earthquake-was-a-very-big-influ_3158479.jpg)
![“I had intended to make another film, called Pocket Money, which was to be about children at a school. I was very much intrigued by the story [of Close Up] - it came into my dreams and I was very much influenced by it. So I called my producer and asked that we put aside Pocket Money and start…” quote by Abbas Kiarostami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f97/abbas-kiarostami-2631_children_i-had-intended-to-make-another-film-call_407453.jpg)
![“The [Iranian] government grapples with more important issues and we can maybe say that these films don't really exist for them. It's not about whether they like it or don't; it's just not very important to them.” quote by Abbas Kiarostami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e5d/abbas-kiarostami-2631_film_the-iranian-government-grapples-with-mor_2530451.jpg)
![“When the film [Certified Copy] was in the Cannes Festival, I realized that the fact of having it shot in a different culture, in a different language, in a different setting, that wasn't mine and that I didn't belong to, gave me a totally different relationship to the film. When I was sitting in…” quote by Abbas Kiarostami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/eb3/abbas-kiarostami-2631_audience_when-the-film-certified-copy-was-in-the_200718.jpg)
![“The kind of sleep that I had during my own film [Certified Copy] screening in Cannes is different. It's not because of the specificity of the film. It was because of my relationship as an author to this film. Usually when I take my films to festivals, I feel incredibly anxious about them. I wonder…” quote by Abbas Kiarostami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0d3/abbas-kiarostami-2631_anxious_the-kind-of-sleep-that-i-had-during-my-o_3178930.jpg)
![“I didn't just see myself as a film director here [in Life And Nothing More], but also as an observer of people who had been condemned to death.” quote by Abbas Kiarostami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f25/abbas-kiarostami-2631_cinema_i-didn-t-just-see-myself-as-a-film-direc_3031421.jpg)
![“It was a film that I knew, that I had seen, that I was familiar with, but I wasn't anxious about it at any point during the screening. I snoozed twice, and this is something I couldn't have imagined that I would feel detached, as I did with this film [Certified Copy].” quote by Abbas Kiarostami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/533/abbas-kiarostami-2631_anxious_it-was-a-film-that-i-knew-that-i-had-see_155328.jpg)