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I did not have a script [of Close Up]. I made notes in the evenings and we filmed during the day over 40 days.I didn’t sleep a wink for those 40 nights.

Abbas Kiarostami

I am still very surprised that I managed to make that film [Close Up]. When I actually look back on that film, I really feel that I was not the director but instead just a member of the audience.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Audience Back Director Film Looks Film Managed Surprised
As long as I take the responsibility of the choice, I have to make the choice that is as right as possible.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Choice Long Possible Responsibility Right
It seems that film-makers are being divided between those working in digital and those who are not. I think it’s not something predetermined – it all depends on what project we have in mind, and on that basis we choose the medium.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Digital Film Maker Mind Predetermined Something Thinking Working
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.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Camera Digital Intimate Moments Light
In my experience as a director, I think there is obviously something of the way men – maybe that’s a common point with Shirin – the way men see women in the film, and the way these two characters see each other.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Character Director Experience Men Shirin Thinking
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

Cinema Lazy Life People Punctuation Seat
You’ve noticed that same joke told by two different people, once works, and the other time doesn’t, simply because how the person edits it. The silences, the pauses, what they neglect, what they emphasize – all of this matters.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Different Edit Joke Notice People Person Silence Time
I think it was [Jean-Luc] Godard who said that life is nothing but a bad copy of film, but then our ambition must be to make better films and better shapes of forms that are given in life.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Ambition Bad Copy Film Life Nothing Shape Thinking
I’ve often noticed that we are not able to look at what we have in front of us, unless it’s inside a frame.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Frame Front Inside Notice Often
Close-Up is a very particular film in my oeuvre. It’s a film that was made in a very particular way; mainly because I didn’t really have the time to think about how to go about making the film.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Close up Director Film Oeuvre Thinking Time Way
It’s true that the best way of knowing yourself is to put yourself into different situations.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Different Knowing Situation True Way
In my mind, there isn’t as much of a distinction between documentary and fiction as there is between a good movie and a bad one.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Bad Distinction Documentary Fiction Good Good Movie Mind Movie
As film-makers, it is very important for us to find common ground between cultures, and maybe that’s less the case for politicians who benefit more from finding the conflicts and differences between us.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Benefit Common Culture Difference Film Ground Important Politician
I think that in life, being is nothing but an illusion. If we acknowledge that and accept the fact that we are in between states, that we are moving, and this movement is the nature of our lives
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Able Accept Acknowledge Illusion Moving State Thinking
Those same people, when they leave the theater, when they look behind the curtains they are curious about their neighbors, they can guess if their neighbors are siblings or a couple, how old they are, what their occupation is.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Couple Curtain Guess Neighbour People Sibling
Using non-actors has its own rules and really requires that you allow them to do their own thing.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Actor Non Actor Own REquired Thing

I did not have a script [of Close Up]. I made notes in the evenings and we filmed during the day over 40 days.I didn’t sleep a wink for those 40 nights.

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I did not have a script [of Close Up]. I made notes in the evenings and we filmed during the day over 40 days.I didn’t sleep a wink for those 40 nights.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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