I gained a great deal from the period during which I worked in theater and I value those things a great deal.

The fact is I'm not making a film in order to draw pictures or make images about Iran.

It's been interesting to see how similar audiences in the East and West are, actually, and how it makes you realize that when politicians emphasize the differences between our cultures, it's usually because it benefits them more so than us.

There are those who simply want to live their lives, and feel they cannot live the way they want to in Iran. Others are ideologically motivated: They will stay no matter what and try to change things.

I see screenwriting as a bit like a math equation which I have to solve.

The fact that I do place music at the end of my films is not to accentuate the emotion. It serves an opposite purpose which is to remove them from the emotional space and allow them to enter a space of thinking, because I believe that when the audience is watching the film they're watching it with their feelings.

One must never tell a child what it is they should display acting.