Director

I think I really produce my best work in Iran.

A movie is about human beings, about humanity.

All the different nations in the world, despite their differences of appearance and religion and language and way of life, still have one thing in common, and that is what's inside of all of us. If we X-rayed the insides of different human beings, we wouldn't be able to tell from those X-rays what the person's language or background or race is.

A good movie is made by an initial burst of energy, the way that, when you are in school, your class exercises are always better than your final projects.

I never really learned photography.

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

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

Usually when I write a script, I have in mind some real people that I'm writing about, who don't always act in the film afterward.

I feel like a tree. A tree doesn't feel a duty to start doing something about the earth from which it comes. A tree just has to bear fruit, and leaves and blossoms. It doesn't feel grateful to the earth.

Digital photography is, by definition, unfinished. You don't feel that after every 24 or 36 shots you have to change your film - you know you can go on for ever if you want. You can see the result immediately, and find out if your original idea is worth going on with or not, whether it can be corrected, whether it can be improved.

Digital photography is, by definition, unfinished. You don't feel that after every 24 or 36 shots you have to change your film - you know you can go on for ever if you want. You can see the result immediately, and find out if your original idea is worth going on with or not, whether it can be corrected, whether it can be improved.

There are at least two retrospectives of my work each year in some country.

Usually when I write a script, I have in mind some real people that I'm writing about, who don't always act in the film afterward.

Some movies bring out the creativity in you. Every single audience member can become creative in the face of a particular movie. If you happen to like my films, it's because my films provide a bed for you on which you can find your creativity. The Hollywood movies do not provide that for you.

I spend a lot of time doing carpentry. Sometimes there is nothing that gives me the contentment that sawing a piece of wood does.

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.

I think I really produce my best work in Iran.

Film is very much a universal and common voice, and we can't limit it to one particular culture.

I would be too selfish if I said everyone should see my movies more than once. To say that would mean I'm just marketing my work!

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