Iran bids farewell to film director Abbas Kiarostami, darling of world cinema

Several thousand cinema-lovers joined top artists in Tehran to bid farewell to renowned Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami following his death last week in Paris.

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.

“Thank you for paving the tough road of globalisation for Iranian cinema,” director Asghar Farhadi – whose A Separation won the country’s only Academy Award to date in 2012 – told a morning memorial service.

“If there is any enthusiasm or curiosity toward Iranian cinema, it is owed to the steps that you took in those difficult times,” Farhadi said.

“Thank you for not abandoning this land despite all the neglect and lack of gratitude,” he said.

Kiarostami, who died at aged 76, had been making films outside Iran for years due to restrictions and difficulties working in the Islamic republic.

Despite the global attention given to his films, Kiarostami did not enjoy official support and his films were rarely shown in Iranian cinemas or on state television.