Iranian filmmakers are not passive. They fight whenever they can, as creative expression means a lot to them. The restrictions and censorship in Iran are a bit like the British weather: one day it's sunny, the next day it's raining. You just have to hope you walk out into the sunshine.

Whenever I write a part, I think there's this person somewhere in the world that this part is specifically for and all I have to do is go searching to find that particular individual.

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

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

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

It's not some big event that creates the drama, it's the little things of everyday life that bring about that drama.

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