Abbas Kiarostami

Born in 1940, Abbas Kiarostami graduated in painting from Tehran University’s Faculty of Fine Arts. In 1961, he began to work as a graphic designer in the advertisement field, designing posters and credit titles for a series of films. In 1970, he made his first short film titled “The Bread and Alley”. Kiarostami has tried his hand in many different areas, expanding his work experience as a music composer, set and costume designer, editor and even actor. He is also a renowned photographer, and has recently published two books on Iranian classic literature titled “Hafez according to Abbas Kiarostami” and “Saadi az dast-e khishtan faryad” (aka Saadi according to Abbas Kiarostami). Kiarostami’s professional profile includes 18 feature films and numerous awards from major film festivals such as Cannes International Film Festival.

Up until “Ten”, Kiarostami’s cinema comprised of exceptional yet regular films, but from “Five” on, it has been a video art maker Kiarostami who has been transforming his small ideas into visual arts. With his trilogy “Where is the friend’s home?”, “Life, and nothing more…” and “Through the Olive Trees”, he founded the kind of cinema which has inspired many filmmakers to build up their reputation by making films of the same genre. A modernist artist, Kiarostami has always been concerned with finding new ways of artistic expression. As Hafez is considered the most universally recognized Iranian poet, Kiarostami holds the similar position in cinema. Critics believe him to be one of the most significant and influential filmmakers of all time.