Bahman Ghobadi

In Iranian cinema, all the lying takes place before making the film. In order to be able to make the film, you have to lie. ”

I am really bothered when I see my friends facing problems back in Iran, but I tell them that not all the doors are shut. ”

In Kurdistan, there's a lot of hardship - a lot of wars, a lot of bitter and difficult lifestyles. And witnessing all those made me a director. ”

If I hadn't turned out to be a filmmaker, I would have been a musician. ”

I love music; I come from a region of Kurdistan that is a base for music. ”

I used to believe that people are only born once, but now I feel I have been reborn, like I was given a new life. I see myself as a child, full of energy and hope. ”

I had no education in filmmaking. I started with a 8mm camera. I made 34 films, and little by little I gained more experience in filming. ”

I'm free - but I'm also not free because there are millions of young people living in Iran. A filmmaker can only do a little. ”

I often ask myself, 'Why is it that most of the lies come out of Islamic countries, and why is it that most of the social corruptions are in the Middle East and in these Islamic countries?' The answer is, when you control something, when you suppress something, people try to do it another way. ”

In my view, the adults are the burnt generation of Iraq for whom nothing can be done. But for the children, we can worry now, we can talk about them, we can plan for them, we can get our protest heard by others. ”