Film Quotes by Abbas Kiarostami

I believe there's only good cinema and bad cinema.

— Abbas Kiarostami

Directors don't always create, they can also destroy with too many demands.

— Abbas Kiarostami

A movie is about human beings, about humanity.

— Abbas Kiarostami

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

— Abbas Kiarostami

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

— Abbas Kiarostami

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

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

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

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

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

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

— Abbas Kiarostami

A good movie is made by an initial burst of energy, the way that, when you are in school, your class exercises…

— 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,…

— Abbas Kiarostami

Maybe more than a teller, I am a story listener. I really enjoy listening to stories. I remember them and keep them…

— Abbas Kiarostami

With the RED, I didn't have this impression at all. I felt that it was as heavy as a film camera. Having…

— 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…

— Abbas Kiarostami

Whenever people ask me what the story is for my next film, I won't tell and people feel it's because I'm being…

— Abbas Kiarostami

The fact of having this very new context, this unheard-of way of working, for me was very pleasant. I didn't feel that…

— Abbas Kiarostami

I am still very surprised that I managed to make that film [Close Up]. When I actually look back on that film,…

— Abbas Kiarostami

I think it was [Jean-Luc] Godard who said that life is nothing but a bad copy of film, but then our ambition…

— Abbas Kiarostami

In my experience as a director, I think there is obviously something of the way men - maybe that's a common point…

— Abbas Kiarostami

I think the contrast between these two in the professional world of cinema mattered to me. One who has reached the ultimate…

— Abbas Kiarostami

When the film [Certified Copy] was in the Cannes Festival, I realized that the fact of having it shot in a different…

— Abbas Kiarostami

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

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

When I met Akira Kurosawa in Japan, one question he asked me was, "How did you actually make the children act the…

— Abbas Kiarostami

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

If you catch me coming out of a film, when I'm emotionally involved, I can tell you at that moment why I…

— Abbas Kiarostami

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

— 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…

— Abbas Kiarostami

Everybody knows that I am not usually patient enough to actually sit down and watch one of my own films from the…

— Abbas Kiarostami

My films have been progressing towards a certain kind of minimalism, even though it was never intended. Elements which can be eliminated…

— Abbas Kiarostami

Unfortunately, cinema critics are very few in America, 400-500 people, but there are more critics of Iran.

— Abbas Kiarostami

Usually when I take my films to festivals, I feel incredibly anxious about them. I wonder how it will be received, how…

— Abbas Kiarostami

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

— Abbas Kiarostami

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

— Abbas Kiarostami

Film is very much a universal and common voice, and we can't limit it to one particular culture.

— Abbas Kiarostami

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

— Abbas Kiarostami

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

I do think that we are sometimes, as directors, guilty of portraying or asking our actors to behave in certain ways that…

— Abbas Kiarostami