In order to be universal, you have to be rooted in your own culture.
Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami
Cinema seats make people
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
It’s true that the
It’s true that the best way of knowing yourself is to put yourself into different situations.
Abbas Kiarostami
In the total darkness,
In the total darkness, poetry is still there, and it is there for you.
Abbas Kiarostami
I think that in
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, and we stop having aspirations for being in a definite state, we know life better and are able to enjoy it better.
Abbas Kiarostami
My car’s my best
My car’s 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. We don’t look at each other, 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. Silence doesn’t seem heavy or difficult. Nobody serves anybody. And many other aspects. One most important thing is that it transports us from one place to another.
Abbas Kiarostami
Religion works on some
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
I prefer the films
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
When you take a
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. And if it does, the fruit will not be as good as it was in its original place. This is a rule of nature. I think if I had left my country, I would be the same as the tree.
Abbas Kiarostami
I’ve often noticed that
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