I believe there's only good cinema and bad cinema.

Whether you consider me a master filmmaker or not, I do it with my intuition and my vision, my experience as a storyteller.

I often say to my students in workshops that if they are trying to find literary inspiration, they should not go and read novels, because novels are more appropriate for series. Where as they should read short stories - that's the right format for you to be able to actually display the narrative in a film.

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

My way of expression is full of complications and mystery because that's my perception of life.

In my experience as a director, I think there is obviously something of the way men - maybe that's a common point with Shirin - the way men see women in the film, and the way these two characters see each other.

This concept that you refer to in Buddhism is something I've been nurtured with through the history of my country for 700, 800 years - Persian poets and philosophers haven't said anything different with regard to experiencing life in the moment, as opposed to the belief of permanence.