Abbas Kiarostami

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

“Religion works on some people but not on everyone, because it says, 'Stop thinking and accept what I tell you.' That's not valid for people who want to think and reflect.”

“I am a citizen of the world.”

“The world is my workshop. It is not my home.”

“I've often noticed that we are not able to look at what we have in front of us, unless it's inside a frame.”

“In the total darkness, poetry is still there, and it is there for you.”

“I think Woody Allen is Woody Allen, and no matter where he goes he still makes his Woody Allen films.”

“I would say that no film is apolitical. There are politics in all films. Any film that is anchored in a society, any film that deals with humanity is necessarily political.”

“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.”

“Usually when I take my films to festivals, I feel incredibly anxious about them. I wonder how it will be received, how the audience will react. I feel deeply responsible for them.”

“The day we run out of petrol is the day Iran will be free.”

“I really enjoy listening to stories. I remember them and keep them in my mind.”

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

“A work of art doesn't exist outside the perception of the audience.”

“When I talk to some of the younger filmmakers, they are so worried about their films that, eventually, this state of being worried reflects itself in and helps the final work. Whereas, with projects that are meticulously planned, you look at the end result and it is full of emptiness.”

“If you are a businessman or a politician in Iran, you can get a visa as quickly as you ask for it.”

“Whenever people ask me what the story is for my next film, I won't tell and people feel it's because I'm being secretive or something, but it's actually because I'm ashamed to sum up a film in three sentences.”

“Good cinema is what we can believe, and bad cinema is what we can't believe.”

“I really think that I don't mind people sleeping during my films, because I know that some very good films might prepare you for sleeping or falling asleep or snoozing. It's not to be taken badly at all. This is something I really mean.”

“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.”