CLOSE-UP

Abbas Kiarostami (1940–2016) was a towering figure in world cinema and one of the founders of the Iranian New Wave. Born in Tehran, he came from a background in graphic arts and children’s films before crafting meditative works that blur boundaries between fiction, documentary, and poetic realism. His “Koker Trilogy”, Where Is the Friend’s Home? (1987), Life, and Nothing More… (1992), and Through the Olive Trees (1994), established his reputation for gentle moral complexity and the lyrical use of landscape and everyday conversation. In 1997, Kiarostami won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for Taste of Cherry, one of several global honors. He also received the prestigious Praemium Imperiale in 2004.