Award-winning Iranian movie director Kiarostami passes away

Kiarostami travelled to France for treatment of advanced cancer he was suffering from.

Kiarostami was hospitalized and under treatment for several months in Iran before leaving for France.

Kiarostami’s rise to the status of one of the world’s foremost directors started from relatively humble beginnings.

He was born in 1940 in Tehran, and originally studied painting at the University of Tehran; Kiarostami began working as a graphic designer and went on to shoot dozens of commercials for Iranian TV.

In 1969 he joined the Centre for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults where he ran the film department, and was able to make his own films.

Kiarostami had worked extensively as a screenwriter, film editor, art director and producer and has designed credit titles and publicity material.

He was also a poet, photographer, painter, illustrator, and graphic designer.

He was part of a generation of filmmakers in the Iranian New Wave, a Persian cinema movement that started in the late 1960s and includes pioneering directors such as Masoud Kimiai, Sohrab Shahid Saless, Dariush Mehrjui, Bahram Beyzai, Nasser Taghvai and Parviz Kimiavi.

These filmmakers share many common techniques including the use of poetic dialogue and allegorical storytelling dealing with political and philosophical issues.

2050**2050