From my films, you can at least learn about Iran, you can get a sense of the history and the society. But no such films have been made about Afghanistan, so you really can't know much about it.

I myself had to grow a longer beard and Afghan clothes. I was in danger of being kidnapped by smugglers, though I didn't know it at the time.

I wanted to be left alone to live my life, so it was very easy for people to pretend that they were me.

There's an 800 kilometer border between Iran and Afghanistan.

If I make two films in a year, they'll be different. This is my style - I can't have just one way.

When I came out, and for many years afterwards, it had become a habit for me to sit and read and read and read, like an obsession. I would take 20 books, and not come out until I'd finished them. It took me a while to change that habit.

Because there is so little room for expression otherwise, a lot of people love cinema because they find it a way of expressing themselves.