I do believe in [Robert] Bresson's method of creation through omission, not through addition.

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

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.

Film is very much a universal and common voice, and we can't limit it to one particular culture.

I think that if you're a digital thinker, you can use a digital camera.

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.

I spend a lot of time doing carpentry. Sometimes there is nothing that gives me the contentment that sawing a piece of wood does.