I think that theater is the closest medium to music. It's very pure. It's for the elite of the society. It's not for everyone in the society.

I'm always careful about the thing I'm writing to make sure a viewer can imagine it happening to themselves.

Each person makes their own choice, but my spirit is meant to stay in Iran, especially with the work that I do, and with the emotional connection I have with the country - with all its difficulties, this is why I stay.

It was important to me to make a film where I don't show the past but where the spectators can see the past.

I would have had the same narrative, regardless of the atmosphere and the restrictions.

Whether we like it or not, the modernity is something that comes from Western countries, and when the modernity comes to the Eastern countries, although they feel like they really need it, at the same time it shakes the very fundament of the culture - there is always this challenge between the two.

I really think that people who want to think more serious have to go and watch theater. Theater is a very sterilized art form. Not as much as music, but very close to music.