Abbas Kiarostami

There is violence in real life but I would never impose violence in a film just to attract the audience.

Cinema gives you the opportunity to be both a grandparent and a grandchild whereas in life you cannot be both at the same time.

My way of expression is full of complications and mystery because that's my perception of life.

In order to be universal, you have to be rooted in your own culture.

Film is very much a universal and common voice, and we can't limit it to one particular culture.

A good movie is made by an initial burst of energy, the way that, when you are in school, your class exercises are always better than your final projects.

I spend a lot of time doing carpentry. Sometimes there is nothing that gives me the contentment that sawing a piece of wood does.

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.

I have no advice for anyone on how to live.

The calling of art is to extract us from our daily reality, to bring us to a hidden truth that's difficult to access - to a level that's not material but spiritual.

Digital photography is, by definition, unfinished. You don't feel that after every 24 or 36 shots you have to change your film - you know you can go on for ever if you want. You can see the result immediately, and find out if your original idea is worth going on with or not, whether it can be corrected, whether it can be improved.

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.