Photo: Pedro J Pacheco / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
Public records list Abbas Kiarostami as a film director, screenwriter and photographer. Born on June 22, 1940, Abbas Kiarostami was from Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran. Death is recorded on July 4, 2016, at the age of 76. Education on record includes University of Tehran. Awards on record include Officer of the Legion of Honour, Konrad Wolf Prize (2003), Praemium Imperiale (2004) and 5 more.
My Take
Abbas Kiarostami is one of those filmmakers who makes you rethink what cinema is even supposed to do. Born in Tehran in 1940, he spent decades quietly building one of the most singular bodies of work in world cinema — and I mean world cinema, not as a polite label but because he genuinely belonged to no one country's tradition. Films like "Where Is the Friend's Home?" and "Taste of Cherry" have this unhurried, almost meditative quality where you're watching a road, a conversation, a face, and somehow you end up somewhere profound without quite knowing how you got there. He won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, earned the Praemium Imperiale, and collected honorary doctorates from the Sorbonne and Venice — the whole international establishment recognized what he was. But the awards almost feel beside the point. What stays with me is the honesty of his gaze. He died in 2016, and cinema quietly lost one of its great poets.
This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Name (Japanese)
- アッバス・キアロスタミ
- Reading
- あっばす・きあろすたみ
- Born
- June 22, 1940 – July 4, 2016
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Dragon
- Origin
- Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran
- Occupation
- film director / screenwriter / photographer / film producer / poet
2. Background
- University
- University of Tehran
Awards & achievements
- Officer of the Legion of Honour
- 2003 Konrad Wolf Prize
- 2004 Praemium Imperiale
- 2014 Austrian Decoration for Science and Art
- 2003 honorary doctor of Ca' Foscari University of Venice
- Palme d'Or
- Grand Jury Prize of the Venice Film Festival
- 2010 honorary doctor of the Sorbonne Nouvelle University
3. Links
4. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.
Frequently asked questions
When was Abbas Kiarostami born?
Born June 22, 1940.
When did Abbas Kiarostami die?
Died July 4, 2016, aged 76.
Where was Abbas Kiarostami from?
Abbas Kiarostami was from Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran.
What did Abbas Kiarostami do?
Abbas Kiarostami worked as film director, screenwriter, photographer, film producer, poet.
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