Close-Up has affected later films that I’ve made.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMIIt 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.
More Abbas Kiarostami Quotes
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I believe there’s only good cinema and bad cinema.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI -
I do believe that a film like Ten could never have been made with a 35mm camera. The first part of the film lasts 17 minutes, and by the end of that part, the kid has totally forgotten the camera.
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 -
When I find the character, I try to spend time with them and get to know them very well. Therefore my notes are not from the character that I had in my mind before, but are instead based on the people I’ve met in real life.
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A movie is about human beings, about humanity.
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If you are a businessman or a politician in Iran, you can get a visa as quickly as you ask for it.
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In my opinion the man looks at the relationship in a more bitter fashion and the woman still holds great hopes.
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My car is my best friend. My office. My home. My location. I have a very intimate sense when I am in a car with someone next to me. We’re in the most comfortable seats because we’re not facing each other, but sitting side by side.
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I thought that I had been asked every kind of question possible.
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I wasn’t searching for a common denominator – I started wondering about the challenge of working in other cultures. What I reached was the sudden acknowledgment of the universal aspect of filmmaking.
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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 my work!
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI -
In my films, I try to give people as little information as possible, which is still much more than what they get in real life. I feel that they should be grateful for the little bit of information I give them.
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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.
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The experience of life teaches us that being like someone in love is more real, because everything is uncertain.
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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.
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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.
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 -
People have curiosity, they have intelligence, they have interest in understanding their peers. But producers and directors of cinema have decided that the seats in the theaters have been made to transform people’s minds to lazy minds.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI -
I’m not sure that my films show the reality of life in Iran; we show different aspects of life. Iran is a very extensive and expansive place, and sometimes, even for us who live there, some of the realities are very hard to comprehend.
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I do believe in [Robert] Bresson’s method of creation through omission, not through addition.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI -
I can only display what I’ve been nurtured with, which is this worldview which has become my view. If I displayed anything different from it in my work, I wouldn’t deserve this heritage.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI -
My way of expression is full of complications and mystery because that’s my perception of life.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI -
Religion works on some people but not on everyone, because it says, ‘Stop thinking and accept what I tell you.’ That’s not valid for people who want to think and reflect.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI -
All the different nations in the world, despite their differences of appearance and religion and language and way of life, still have one thing in common, and that is what’s inside of all of us.
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI -
In order to be universal, you have to be rooted in your own culture.
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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