I do believe in [Robert] Bresson’s method of creation through omission, not through addition.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMIChildren are very strong and independent characters and can come up with more interesting things than Marlon Brando, and it’s sometimes very difficult to direct or order them to do something.
More Abbas Kiarostami Quotes
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This was pointed out to me by somebody who referred to the paintings of Rembrandt and his use of light: some elements are highlighted while others are obscured or even pushed back into the dark.
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I never reflect or convey that which I have not experienced myself.
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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.
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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.
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I have no advice for anyone on how to live.
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I saw this French woman, this English man in Italy. It was a film [Certified Copy] I knew well, but I had already seen it, and I was familiar with it, and I had no feeling of anxiety or responsibility toward it.
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I thought that I had been asked every kind of question possible.
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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.
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It’s not so much a question of whether we’ve shot it through 35mm or digital video; what is important is whether the audience accepts it as real.
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I only make notes, I don’t write dialogues in full. And the notes are very much based on my knowledge of person.
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A work of art doesn’t exist outside the perception of the audience.
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Directors don’t always create, they can also destroy with too many demands.
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Whether you consider me a master filmmaker or not, I do it with my intuition and my vision, my experience as a storyteller.
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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.
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In real life, when someone’s partner calls them, they can tell from the first word their partner says what their mood is.
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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.
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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.
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If I do continue to have the opportunity to work in Iran, that’s very much what I’d prefer to do.
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Film is very much a universal and common voice, and we can’t limit it to one particular culture.
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Anything I’ve not experienced I do not look to for a subject. I have to feel it.
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A digital camera does have many advantages and I was a believer that digital video would be a big influence on film-making.
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I don’t generally derive my stories from novels. I try to turn into film things I have felt or experienced.
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When you take a tree that is rooted in the ground, and transfer it from one place to another, the tree will no longer bear fruit.
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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.
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It’s true that the best way of knowing yourself is to put yourself into different situations.
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As long as I take the responsibility of the choice, I have to make the choice that is as right as possible.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI