PRESS CONFERENCE ABBAS KIAROSTAMI
Acclaimed Iranian director, Abbas Kiarostami, gave a press conference on Tuesday, November 23rd, at Warehouse C of the Thessaloniki Port in the framework of the Thessaloniki Film Festival. Being a regular visitor, Kiarostami has made a name for himself at the Thessaloniki Festival and his career goes hand in hand with the course of the Festival. The Director of the Festival, Michel Demopoulos, welcomed Kiarostami making a brief reference to his work. As he said, Kiarostami’s first visit to Thessaloniki was in 1992 when the Festival became international. Since then, he has visited the Festival twice more and in 1999 he received the Golden Alexander award for his contribution to cinema.
Mr. Demopoulos said that the largest retrospective tribute for Kiarostami’s work took place last year, in Turin, Italy and that the Thessaloniki Film Festival decided to bring the exhibition to our city. The Festival also honours the great Iranian director with his black and white photography exhibition as well as the publication of a monograph. “Nowadays, Kiarostami is extremely sought after. He enjoys communicating with the audience and attends the smaller festivals sharing his opinions on cinema and life. Abbas is a friend of Thessaloniki and Greece and we are delighted to have him here with us”, said Mr. Demopoulos.
The Director of “New Horizons”, Dimitri Eipides also welcomed Mr. Kiarostami reminding him that in 1992 he had promised to shoot a film about Thessaloniki. “It’s never too late. We would be delighted with such a gift”, said Mr. Eipides. Abbas Kiarostami admitted that he has been enjoying the Festival’s hospitality since 1992 and he has become addicted to his need for visiting the city and receiving its loving atmosphere. Regarding Iranian cinema’s course, Mr. Kiarostami noted that he is unable to distinguish any changes. At the same time, he mentioned two opposing situations in his country: commercial cinema, which receives support by the government and contemporary cinema, which is self-supporting. “The country won’t change its position on this type of cinema, something which hinders its development”, he said.
Actually, he mentioned his film “The wind will carry us” which is still being held for approval. Regarding the comments by some of his fellow countrymen in exile in France, that he supports his country’s government by having taken no official stance against it, Mr. Kiarostami said, “Even patriots living in Iran who are completely uninformed know that regimes come and go through certain politics and not because of me”.
According to Kiarostami, up until now, his films have resembled documentaries and were based on his own personal experiences. “However, I feel like I’ve reached a turning point, like I’ve stumbled upon a wall and this makes me want to return to films based on a story”, he said. Kiarostami also said that the audience’s indifferent reception of his work has made rethink his course and therefore return to feature films. However, his new films will be embedded with elements from his previous work. Regarding Kiarostami the photographer, the Iranian director said, “I hope that I don’t photograph as a director but direct as a photographer”. Furthermore, he mentioned that while photographing, he is aware that the audience has no expectations of visualizing a story in the photographs. As opposed to films, photography provides the audience with the opportunity to create its own story while looking at the photographs.
