Abbas Kiarostami Quotes
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.
Quotes to Explore
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From my very first movie, what was my concentration, my inspiration, was I didn't want to narrate something, I didn't want to tell a story. I wanted to show something, I wanted for them to make their own story from what they were seeing.
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In order to be universal, you have to be rooted in your own culture.
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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!
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To be international, you have to first be local. ... 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.
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When I talk to some of the younger filmmakers, they are so worried about their films that, eventually, this state of being worried reflects itself in and helps the final work. Whereas, with projects that are meticulously planned, you look at the end result and it is full of emptiness.
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Cinema gives you the opportunity to be both a grandparent and a grandchild whereas in life you cannot be both at the same time.
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A work of art doesn't exist outside the perception of the audience.
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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. If we X-rayed the insides of different human beings, we wouldn't be able to tell from those X-rays what the person's language or background or race is.
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I never really learned photography.
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In the total darkness, poetry is still there, and it is there for you.
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There is violence in real life but I would never impose violence in a film just to attract the audience.
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Cinema seats make people lazy. They expect to be given all the information. But for me, question marks are the punctuation of life.
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I never reflect or convey that which I have not experienced myself.
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There are at least two retrospectives of my work each year in some country.
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The day we run out of petrol is the day Iran will be free.
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Good cinema is what we can believe, and bad cinema is what we can't believe.
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I film normal-life subjects in natural settings that some people would consider uncinematic. But what I want to show is nature itself, as the truth of life.
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Usually when I take my films to festivals, I feel incredibly anxious about them. I wonder how it will be received, how the audience will react. I feel deeply responsible for them.
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The world is my workshop. It is not my home.
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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.
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I think Woody Allen is Woody Allen, and no matter where he goes he still makes his Woody Allen films.
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I can watch films and say how technically beautiful they are, but I'm not impressed by any technicality.
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I am a citizen of the world.
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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.