Abbas Kiarostami Quotes

As a director and filmmaker, I love creating my own opportunity, and getting to share the love, in that way, by creating other opportunities for people that I admire, so that they can do something in a way they haven't done it before.

I have dreams of being a producer, being behind a camera, eating seven tacos for every meal, and making movies that affect people the way they affect me. I don't even need to be in them.

Every cinematographer I worked with had his own way of solving problems.

I wanted to write and direct movies and not be forced to adapt them from a bestselling book.

I love shooting French films because I don't have to stick with being sophisticated or stuck-up.

Being a filmmaker is kind of like being a glorified spy.

I think films are bigger than structure.

I make a movie because it's something that inspires me.

It's incredible to see the creativity, beauty and hardships people capture when filmmaking is opened up and shared with the world.

Cinema is an infinite medium, so we should take advantage of it, I think.

I want to act for the rest of my life - and I also want to pursue directing. Watching Bill Condon direct 'Twilight' kind of made me think, 'OK yeah, I really want to do this now.' This idea that you can make an image in your head and be in full control of how it comes out - I thought that was really cool.

Film shouldn't be a pain. It's a creative process.

The mystery of film is not in the script. It's in the shooting, in the interacting of humans and space and time.

Moviemaking is a dirty, tiring affair. The joy comes from the possibility to be free on set and really let loose.

For me, movie making is not business.

Go home, pick up your video camera, and make a film.

As a filmmaker, I make the films that I love, that are in my heart. That's what I care about.

I felt film is art and there are people that constructed that art - and that made me want to be a filmmaker.

A lot of people have said my movies are all the same. But I don't actually make an effort to have a style. I'm usually just thinking of what can we do to make it funnier or more interesting or just kind of refine it and it ends up like that.

I have great people surrounding me and helping me out. I'm totally in love with directing movies and I hope to do more of it.

In front of the camera and in front of the lens, there's no lawsuits, there's no agent, and there's most frequently no time limits... There's a longevity that's kind of built into it. I spend most of my time behind the scenes, and when it is time to perform, I'm genuinely delighted to do it.

A digital camera does have many advantages and I was a believer that digital video would be a big influence on film-making.

I'm a very creative person, and you know when I hooked up with Benny Boom, I said I want it to be a different kind of video. I want it to be crisp, and I want it to relate, [and] not to be so far over people's heads. And that's when we came up with the p-t-d-d-d-d-d (camera flashes.) You know with the picture changing, and that's it.

Every film I try and make it the way I see it in my head, and it really just depends on the script and the people I'm working with or whatever interests me at that particular time.

The thing about being a photographer that's so cool is that you get to participate, but you also get to disappear. The camera is in front of your face all the time.