Tributes flow for Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, giant of world cinema
The Palme d’Or winner was known for his poetic parables of ordinary lives, often laced with dark humour. ‘He dared to do the things many others did not,’ says fellow Iranian director Asghar Farhadi
Tributes have flooded in from around the world for Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami following his death in France at the age of 76.
Acclaimed as a “towering figure” in world cinema, Kiarostami, who won the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 for Taste of Cherry, emerged from the Iranian New Wave of the late 1960s to become one of the world’s most revered directors.
“He was a true gentleman, and, truly, one of our great artists,” Scorsese told The Hollywood Reporter.
Hundreds of people flocked to the beautiful grounds of Tehran’s Museum of Cinema late on Tuesday to remember him. Among them was Asghar Farhadi, perhaps Iran’s most successful director.
“He wasn’t only important for Iranian cinema – already for a long time he’s been an avant gardist for the whole of world cinema. He dared to do the things that many did not dare to do,” said Farhadi.