I don't like reverse-angle shots - I find them very fake and very untruthful to the viewer.

This [the earthquake] was a very big influence on me, and the issue of life and death from then on does recur in my films.

If you are a businessman or a politician in Iran, you can get a visa as quickly as you ask for it.

The day we run out of petrol is the day Iran will be free.

I think it was [Jean-Luc] Godard who said that life is nothing but a bad copy of film, but then our ambition must be to make better films and better shapes of forms that are given in life.

I don't generally derive my stories from novels. I try to turn into film things I have felt or experienced.

My car is my best friend. My office. My home. My location. I have a very intimate sense when I am in a car with someone next to me. We're in the most comfortable seats because we're not facing each other, but sitting side by side.