Abbas Kiarostami © AFP
Abbas Kiarostami : “My films are not derived from any art form”
Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, and Abbas Kiarostami, the director of Certified Copy (Copie conforme), his new feature film presented this Tuesday in Competition, answered journalists’ questions at noon today. This press conference was marked by the announcement that director Jafar Panahi, still detained in an Iranian prison, has started a hunger strike.
Abbas Kiarostami, on his relationship to the identity of his characters:
In all the film experiences I have had, I have always possessed something of my characters within me. My films are not derived from any art form, but from reality. I always base my characters on real life experiences.
Juliette Binoche, about her experience with the Iranian director:
Abbas Kiarostami gave me plenty of time in front of the camera. This freedom is rare for an actress. The way he films enabled me to turn emotional somersaults, to live an extraordinary inner immensity, and to plunge into a certain creativity that I have not often explored before.
Abbas Kiarostami on the social and political dimension of his film:
Can one live in a society and not have, by necessity, a political dimension? My films never operate through the mediation of a fictional or literary story, but through reality. And in the real world, the social and political dimension is ubiquitous.
Comments taken by B.P.
