Award-winning Iran director, Abbas Kiarostami passed away at 76…
The award-winning Iranian film director, Abbas Kiarostami passed away in Paris at the age of 76. He was going through hospital treatment for cancer at the hospital in France.
Before he went into the film industry as a film director, he started off in doing arts and graphic designs through his studies. In the 1960s, he worked in the advertising industry and shot around 150 advertisements for Iranian television. He also created credit film titles and children’s illustration books.
The Report, first feature film directed by Abbas Kiarostami
As a film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer, he made more than forty films including short films and documentaries. His first feature film The Report was directed in 1977. His films are known for showcasing the life and culture in Iran that not many audiences know of. He is part of the Iran New Wave, a Persian cinema movement that questions political and philosophical issues. He is known for using child protagonists, conversations in cars, using stationary mounted cameras and using Iranian contemporary poetry in his films. He also directed films outside Iran such as joint collaboration with director Shohei Imamura for The Eel (Japan), Certified Copy (Italy), and Someone in Love (Japan).
Taste of Cherry, the film that won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The only Iranian film director that receive the award from the international film festival.
In the early 80s and 90s, his directed his films for trilogies Koker, Where is the Friend’s Home, Life, And Nothing More…, and Through the Olive Trees. He won the Bronze Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival with his film Where is the Friend’s Home. He won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival with his 1997 film Taste of Cherry, a film that focuses on Iranian civic and religious attitudes. He is the only Iran film director who received the award. Also, he is one of the most influential directors and auteurs in world cinema. Ten was also nominated for Palme D’Or. He appeared in major international film festivals. He is also an active jury member for the Cannes Film Festivals. Later, he became the president of the Cinéfondation and short film sections of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. A week before he passed away, he was asked to join he Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences along with 683 other filmmakers.
Director Abbas Kiarostami with Actor Tadashi Okuno and actress Rin Takanashi at the 65th Cannes Film Festival for the film Like Someone in Love (Photo Credit: Francois Mori)
Film fans and well-known figures, including US director Martin Scorsese, pay tributes to Abbas Kiarostami. Cinemas in Iran will have the moment of silence of tribute to the director later in the evening.
In the words from Abbas Kisrastami talking about Iranian cinema, he believes that “this is their only chance to speak outwardly… Iranian cinema has always maintained its style, one, because of the want of its directors and another, because of the chance that it has been given in world cinema.”