I became the voice of a generation in a very surprising way, because many Iranians recognize themselves in it. But that is not what I wanted.

You see a picture and you understand perfectly, immediately, the basic thing that's happening. It's probably more accessible because we are in a culture of images. People are used to seeing stories that way. They understand looking at pictures.

When you make a book or you make a movie, it is almost like hitting on somebody. It's not because you want to seduce people that you will seduce them; you can hit on somebody and it doesn't work. But when you hit on them and it works, then it's really cool.

To tell you the truth, I never wanted to become a moviemaker. It was like I was a cinepihile, and I go, like, three or four times per week to the cinema, and I like to watch films.

A cat can never be well-trained because they're too independent.

I wanted to do my artistic work, and in Iran you have censorship. It was difficult for me to do the work I wanted to do.

I'm not a religious person at all.