The man behind the camera: Abbas Kiarostami, giant of Iranian cinema
Beginnings and first steps
Born in Tehran on June 22, 1940, Abbas Kiarostami developed an early interest in art and cinema. Graduated of Tehran University's Faculty of Fine Arts, he began his career working in advertising and producing commercials for Iranian television. Between 1962 and 1966, he produced around 150 TV commercials. 3 years later, he joined the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (Kanoun), where he began making short films with an educational and civic vocation. It wasn't until 1970 that he made his first film, Le Pain et la Rue, a twelve-minute dramatic short about a young boy confronted by a threatening dog. Shot in black and white, the film already demonstrates the filmmaker's talent for transforming a simple situation into a profound and symbolic story.
Inborn talent and hard work
Abbas Kiarostami is a workaholic. In just a few years, he produced over 40 films! Each of them reflects one of his personal convictions. For example, in 1979, he made Case n°1, Case n°2, a film that examines a moral dilemma in a school classroom, marking the beginning of the importance of childhood and education in his work. Between 1987 and 1994, Kiarostami directed The Koker Trilogy, consisting of Where's My Friend's House (1987), And Life Goes On (1992) and Through the Olive Trees (1994). These 3 films, all set in the village of Koker, explore themes of life, death and human resilience after the 1990 earthquake. The stories are staged simply but with depth. For example, Où est la maison de mon ami? is the story of a schoolboy trying to return a notebook to his friend to prevent him from being expelled from school, and Et la vie continue and Au travers des oliviers are explorations of the lives of earthquake survivors, blending reality and fiction. In the 2000s, Kiarostami continued to innovate with films such as Ten (2002), which takes place entirely in a car, and Shirin (2008), which presents the reactions of women watching a film.
International recognition
In 1990, Kiarostami produced Close-Up, a film that combines documentary and fiction, telling the true story of a man pretending to be the famous filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The film was acclaimed by filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, and is often considered a masterpiece. International recognition came in 1997 with Le Goût de la cerise, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The film tells the story of a desperate man looking for someone to bury him after his suicide. Le Vent nous emportera (1999), which deals with the themes of life and death in a Kurdish village, also won numerous awards. Finally, Copie conforme (2010), with Juliette Binoche, marks her first directorial venture outside Iran, and wins the Best Actress prize at Cannes.
What sets Abbas Kiarostami apart
Kiarostami is out of the ordinary. He stands out for his unique approach to cinema, which blends fiction and reality with rare fluidity and poetry. Unlike many filmmakers, he avoids grand staging and special effects, preferring simple narratives and uncluttered frames. His work is characterized by long shots, location shooting and a subtle use of light and silence. Kiarostami seeks to capture the essence of everyday life and reveal beauty in the ordinary. His films are often seen as meditations on the human condition, tackling universal themes such as life, death, memory and identity. He was also a master in the use of metaphor and allegory, often employing elements of Persian culture and poetry to enrich his narratives.
Legacy and influence
Kiarostami has played a crucial role in putting Iranian cinema on the international stage. His successes inspired many Iranian directors and helped create a new wave of cinema in Iran. By remaining in Iran after the 1979 revolution, he demonstrated that it was possible to create meaningful art even under difficult political and social conditions. His work has also had a profound impact on the Arab world and beyond by showing a more nuanced and positive image of Iran, contributing to changing Western perceptions of the region.
Kiarostami's legacy is huge. As proof, in 2021, a full retrospective and exhibition at the Centre Pompidou honored his work, underlining the importance of his artistic and cinematographic contributions. Abbas Kiarostami will forever remain a major figure in cinema, an artist who captured the essence of life with unrivalled simplicity and depth. His cinema, rooted in the realities of the East but universal in its themes, continues to resonate across cultures and generations.
Sources :
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbas_Kiarostami
