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.
Interpretation
Worrying too much can negatively affect creative work, while meticulous planning might lead to lifeless outcomes.
Abbas Kiarostami's quote suggests that anxiety and concern about the creative process can infuse energy and authenticity into a filmmaker's work, whereas an overly meticulous and rigid planning approach may result in a final product that lacks emotional depth and connection. It underscores the balance between creative spontaneity and systematic structure, implying that genuine passion and concern can elevate artistic expression.
In practice
Using this quote in a film school seminar to discuss the importance of emotional investment in creative projects.
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.
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.
The calling of art is to extract us from our daily reality, to bring us to a hidden truth that's difficult to access - to a level that's not material but spiritual.
The collision of hail or rain with hard surfaces, or the song of cicadas in a summer field. These sonic events are made out of thousands of isolated sounds; this multitude of sounds, seen as totality, is a new sonic event.
Enjoying fiction requires a shift in selfhood. You give up your own identity and try on the identities of other people, adopting their perspectives so as to share their experiences. This allows us to enjoy fictional events that would shock and sadden us in real life.
An artist is someone who should raise questions rather than give answers. I have no message.
I'm always trying to reach a transcendent point, a romantic point, but reach it in a really unconventional way, a really profane way. To get to that romantic, touching, heartbreaking place, but through a lot of acts of profanity.
Creativity does not stop just because you're over 50. Hollywood spits female actresses out after age 29, but you don't stop creating. If anything, you become wiser and even better.
The violinist is that peculiarly human phenomenon distilled to a rare potency---half tiger,half poet.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.