Overview

Abbas Kiarostami's films - Close-Up, Life and Nothing More, Through the Olive Trees, Taste of Cherry (winner of the 1997 Palme d'Or at Cannes), and Ten - have taken their place alongside the masterworks of world cinema. Yet Kiarostami, the most influential filmmaker of post-revolutionary Iran, has produced a body of work that is as rooted in contemporary Iran as it is universal in appeal. Respected cinema historian Alberto Elena has used Iranian sources wherever possible and sought to frame Kiarostami's oeuvre within the context of the rich artistic and intellectual Persian tradition that has nourished the director. He examines his blending of fiction and reality, and his recurring themes of death, meaning in life, isolation, solidarity and the lives of women. Kiarostami's career, from his early days as an illustrator and graphic designer to his current master-status, is also explored - his adverts, short films, documentaries and features, as well as his collaborations, influences and critical reception both in Iran and internationally. The creative boldness of Kiarostami's work is matched by a structural precision that is virtually unparalleled in modern-day cinema. Elena's retrospective shows exactly how this most Iranian of directors has also come to assume a place in the pantheon of international cinema.

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Reviews

'Film begins with D.W. Griffith and ends with Abbas Kiarostami.' Jean Luc Godard 'In the last fifteen years Abbas Kiarostami has been one of the most important and influential film makers in the world.' Geoff Andrew, National Film Theatre, London 'Kiarostami will find a quiet place and listen to a man's heart, right up until it stops beating. And then he will listen some more.' Time magazine 'I'm so impressed by the immediacy and the truth that you find in Kiarostami's films that it just transports you to a completely different level, as if nothing is truly staged.' Walter Salles, director of Motorcycle Diaries 'Words cannot describe my feelings about his films... When Satyajit Ray passed on, I was very depressed. But after seeing Kiarostami's films I thanked God for giving us just the right person to take his place.' Akira Kurosawa

'Film begins with D.W. Griffith and ends with Abbas Kiarostami.' Jean Luc Godard 'In the last fifteen years Abbas Kiarostami has been one of the most important and influential film makers in the world.' Geoff Andrew, National Film Theatre, London 'Kiarostami will find a quiet place and listen to a man's heart, right up until it stops beating. And then he will listen some more.' Time magazine 'I'm so impressed by the immediacy and the truth that you find in Kiarostami's films that it just transports you to a completely different level, as if nothing is truly staged.' Walter Salles, director of Motorcycle Diaries 'Words cannot describe my feelings about his films... When Satyajit Ray passed on, I was very depressed. But after seeing Kiarostami's films I thanked God for giving us just the right person to take his place.' Akira Kurosawa

Author Information

Alberto Elena teaches film history at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. The editor of Secuencias, Revista de Historia del Cine, he has organised various film retrospectives and participated as a member of the jury at different international film festivals. In addition to his contributions to numerous periodicals, his publications include Cine e Islam, Satyajit Ray, Ciencia, cine e historia: de Melies a 2001 and The Cinema of Latin America.

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