Abbas Kiarostami Quotes

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.

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.

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

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.

In real life, when someone’s partner calls them, they can tell from the first word their partner says what their mood is.

I never really learned photography.

Cinema gives you the opportunity to be both a grandparent and a grandchild whereas in life you cannot be both at the same time.

As long as I take the responsibility of the choice, I have to make the choice that is as right as possible.

There were years when Hitchcock was like a master to me, but now I think he’s so artificial. I can watch films and say how technically beautiful they are, but I’m not impressed by any technicality.

Silence doesn’t seem heavy or difficult.