I never reflect or convey that which I have not experienced myself..

Whether you consider me a master filmmaker or not, I do it with my intuition and my vision, my experience as a storyteller..

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

When the film [Certified Copy] was in the Cannes Festival, I realized that the fact of having it shot in a different culture, in a different language….

There are certainties in existence, but love is something much harder to define than light and dark, life and death. I think saying you are "like" so….

You've noticed that same joke told by two different people, once works, and the other time doesn't, simply because how the person edits it. The silen….

I have received the digital camera as a blessing. It has really changed my life as a filmmaker, because I don't use my camera anymore as a camera. I ….

I never intended to write poems, nor to be a photographer, nor to be a film-maker. I just took many, many pictures and I would put them in an album, ….

I think Woody Allen is Woody Allen, and no matter where he goes he still makes his Woody Allen films..

Religion works on some people but not on everyone, because it says, 'Stop thinking and accept what I tell you.' That's not valid for people who want ….

I'm not sure that my films show the reality of life in Iran; we show different aspects of life. Iran is a very extensive and expansive place, and som….

As film-makers, it is very important for us to find common ground between cultures, and maybe that's less the case for politicians who benefit more f….

The Iranian government as a whole has no relationship with my films. They're not particularly interested, perhaps this kind of cinema is not very int….

The [Iranian] government grapples with more important issues and we can maybe say that these films don't really exist for them. It's not about whethe….

Unfortunately, cinema critics are very few in America, 400-500 people, but there are more critics of Iran..

I've often noticed that we are not able to look at what we have in front of us, unless it's inside a frame..

In this type of cinema, whether working with actors or non-actors, as much as you do direct them, if you allow yourself to be directed by them, then ….

Having an international voice is not really about whether we speak Persian or any other language..

I often say to my students in workshops that if they are trying to find literary inspiration, they should not go and read novels, because novels are ….

It's very true that non-actors feel more comfortable in front of a digital camera, without the lights and the large crowd around them, and we arrive ….

The day we run out of petrol is the day Iran will be free..