Acclaimed Iranian director Kiarostami dies at age 76

Foreign Minister Mohmmad Javad Zarif also paid homage to the late Iranian filmmaker on his Twitter, expressing deep regret over the loss of “a towering figure in worldwide cinema”; “May the Almighty receive him in His Infinite Mercy”. The artist died in Paris where he was undergoing his treatment for cancer.

He joined the Centre for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults in 1969 as head of the film department.

Madhur Bhandarkar tweeted, “The world of Cinema has lost a true Cinematic genius Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami”.

Born in Tehran in 1940, Kiarostami studied at the School of Fine Arts at Tehran University. Shortly after, the 1979 revolution took place and while other colleagues of his were fleeing the country fearing the new Islamist regime, Kiarostami stayed and continued his work under the constriants of the new regime. He grew easily outside of the label of Iranian director by consistently challenging himself and the limitations of film form, and asking viewers to keep up with him.

Kiarostami “wasn’t just a film-maker”. In 2000 Kiarostami was awarded the Akira Kurosawa Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Directing at the San Francisco Film Festival, although he gave his prize to fellow Iranian director Behrooz Vossoughi in recognition of his contribution to Iranian cinema.

He directed many short and feature films, but “Where Is the Friend’s Home?“, the story of a schoolboy who scours a neighboring village for a classmate’s home to return an important notebook, won him a national reputation. Every scene in “Taste of Cherry” and “Where is the Friend’s House” are overflowing with beauty and surprise, he said. Thankfully for us, it resulted in two global productions – Italy set Certified Copy in 2011 and Japan set Like Someone in Love in 2013.

Referring to his travels, he said he was attempting to make a narrative about “universal characters that can be accessible to everyone”.

Kiarostami leaves two sons, Ahmad and Bahman.