I film normal-life subjects in natural settings that some people would consider uncinematic. But what I want to show is nature itself, as the truth of life.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of depicting the truth of life through natural and ordinary subjects.
Abbas Kiarostami expresses his artistic vision of capturing the essence of life through the lens of normalcy and nature. He suggests that true beauty and truth lie not in the grandiose or overly stylized subjects, but in the authenticity of everyday life and the natural world, which together reflect the genuine experience of being alive.
In practice
During an art exhibition, I might reference Kiarostami's quote to emphasize the beauty of ordinary life.
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.
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.
From my very first movie, what was my concentration, my inspiration, was I didn't want to narrate something, I didn't want to tell a story. I wanted to show something, I wanted for them to make their own story from what they were seeing.
Good cinema is what we can believe, and bad cinema is what we can't believe.
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 from finding the conflicts and differences between us.
Cinema gives you the opportunity to be both a grandparent and a grandchild whereas in life you cannot be both at the same time.
Somewhere along the line a convention developed that the opening of a film was just a laundry list of credits. There was no incentive to complicate an area that was settled.
I am scared; I don't know what is going to happen to me. What was the point of working so hard and of being talented, to be rewarded like this? Never a penny, tormented all my life. It is horrible; one cannot imagine it.
I always try to keep that feeling of being on the edge. I'm afraid of knowing too well and seeming mechanical.
One of the reasons I paint black people is because I am a black person.
When you use film, you use accidents, but there aren't any accidents with digital photography. I don't mind that it's easy. But I do mind that there is a sort of consensus with the camera and the subject and the light, and you look at something, and you photograph it, and you get what you see.
Architecture does not change anything. It's always on the side of the wealthy. The important thing is to believe that it can make life better.
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