I believe in the utmost importance of one human being's actions toward another. This is actually what I believe in. How we handle one another, that's what makes us feel isolated, feel like outsiders sometimes. These questions are overwhelming. "What do you do in this world?" I believe in that more than anything.

I never say "Action" or "Cut." Never. I think that would disturb the life from happening in and around everything.

I like poetry, but honestly, I like dramatic literature more. If I had to pick between Rumi and Dostoevsky, I would pick Dostoevsky without even thinking about it. Ninety-nine out of 100 Iranians would probably pick Rumi. Kiarostami, too, would probably pick Rumi first. I try to have the meaning be in the action of the story, not in the symbolism. I want it to be in the action, and it's dramatic action that creates the meaning.

We're living in a world that says that if you engage in mass fraud, you'll be rewarded, but if you go down the street and steal an orange juice, you get arrested.

The actors come and you start seeing things happen for real.

I'm not going to read reviews like, "I have to do these things." Any good criticism makes you think about your own films and about cinema in general.

The job of the writer and the filmmaker is not to impose his vision on the reality, but to be inspired by the reality and create a vision out of that.