Children are very strong and independent characters and can come up with more interesting things than Marlon Brando, and it's sometimes very difficult to direct or order them to do something.
Abbas KiarostamiIt's not so much a question of whether we've shot it through 35mm or digital video; what is important is whether the audience accepts it as real.
Abbas KiarostamiI had intended to make another film, called Pocket Money, which was to be about children at a school. I was very much intrigued by the story [of Close Up] - it came into my dreams and I was very much influenced by it. So I called my producer and asked that we put aside Pocket Money and start something else, and he agreed.
Abbas KiarostamiCinema seats make people lazy. They expect to be given all the information. But for me, question marks are the punctuation of life.
Abbas KiarostamiI have received the digital camera as a blessing. It has really changed my life as a filmmaker, because I don't use my camera anymore as a camera. I don't feel it as a camera. I feel it as a friend, as something that doesn't make an impression on people, that doesn't make them feel uncomfortable, and that is completely forgotten in my way of approaching life and people and film.
Abbas Kiarostami