“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.” ThinkingMadeFilmNightSleepMorningAudienceWeekWake UpTheater Author: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.” PeopleMindHas BeensMadeUnderstandingInterestDirectorsDecidedTheaterCuriosityProducersCinemaSeatsLazyPeers Author:Abbas Kiarostami
“Close-Up is a very particular film in my oeuvre. It's a film that was made in a very particular way; mainly because I didn't really have the time to think about how to go about making the film.” ThinkingWayMadeFilmParticularTime To Think Author:Abbas Kiarostami
“I did not have a script [of Close Up]. I made notes in the evenings and we filmed during the day over 40 days.I didn't sleep a wink for those 40 nights. I have a picture from the end of the shoot, and in it I have lost all my hair.” MadeEndsNightLostSleepHairNotesScriptsEvening Author:Abbas Kiarostami
“The film [Close Up] made itself, to a large extent. The characters involved were very real, I wasn't directing the actors so much as being directed by them. So it was a very particular film.” MadeRealCharacterFilmActorsParticularInvolved Author:Abbas Kiarostami
“It is a very important film, Life And Nothing More, in that what was filmed was inspired by a journey I had made just three days after an earthquake. And I speak not only of the film itself but also of the experience of being in that place, where only three days before 50,000 people had died.” PeopleMadeImportantFilmThreeSpeakJourneyDiedInspiredEarthquakes Author: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.” FirstsBelieveHas BeensMadeEndsKidsLastsFilmMinutesTenCamerasForgotten Author:Abbas Kiarostami
“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.” MadeFilmCitiesTownsVillageCountryside Author:Abbas Kiarostami
