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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

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
A work of art doesn’t exist outside the perception of the audience.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Art Audience Exist Outside Perception Work
I think life is so difficult to catch, it’s so furtive, that a copy, a film, can in no way catch it and represent it.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Difficult Furtive Life Represent Thinking Way
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.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

City Village Film Prefer Society Town True
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.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Actors End Belong Difficult Director Film Ultimately
I think being someone in love is so hard to define, so temporary, because retrospectively we often deny the state in which we were in love.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Complication Deny Expression Life Perception Thinking
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.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Cinema Dead End Possible Turn Wall Word
Good cinema is what we can believe and bad cinema is what we can’t believe. What you see and believe in is very much what I’m interested in.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Believe Cinema Good Interested
We don’t look at each other [in the car], but instead do so only when we want to. We’re allowed to look around without appearing rude. We have a big screen in front of us and side views.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Appearing Around Car Look Rude Silence View
Anything I’ve not experienced I do not look to for a subject. I have to feel it.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Experienced Feel Look Looks Subject
I don’t like reverse-angle shots – I find them very fake and very untruthful to the viewer.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Angle Fake Reverse Shot Untruthful
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
I really enjoy listening to stories. I remember them and keep them in my mind.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Enjoy Listening Mind Remember Story
I prefer the films that put their audience to sleep in the theater. Some films have made me doze off in the theater, but the same films have made me stay up at night, wake up thinking about them in the morning, and keep on thinking about them for weeks.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Audience Film Morning Night Sleep Theatre
My films have been progressing towards a certain kind of minimalism, even though it was never intended. Elements which can be eliminated have been eliminated.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Element Eliminated Film Kind Minimalism Progress Progressive
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.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI

Exist Government Grapple Important Issue Issues

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.

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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.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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