---
name: "Abbas Kiarostami"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/abbas-kiarostami"
fi1m_id: "abbas-kiarostami"
imdb_id: "nm0452102"
tmdb_id: 119294
wikidata_id: "Q55210"
roles: ["Writer","Director","Producer"]
born: "22 June 1940"
died: "4 July 2016"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 6
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-26T03:02:18.640803+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Abbas Kiarostami

## Identity

Abbas Kiarostami

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/abbas-kiarostami
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** abbas-kiarostami
- **IMDb ID:** nm0452102
- **TMDB ID:** 119294
- **Wikidata ID:** Q55210
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbas_Kiarostami, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55210, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0452102/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/119294

Writer and director. Born 22 June 1940 in Tehran, Iran. Died 4 July 2016.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Director, Producer
- **Born:** 22 June 1940, Tehran, Iran
- **Died:** 4 July 2016
- **Active:** 1990–2010
- **Also known as:** 아바스 키아로스타미, Kiarostami
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 6: 5 directing, 1 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Alain Depardieu](https://film.one/person/alain-depardieu.md)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 85 (5), 2010s 84 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbas_Kiarostami, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55210, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0452102/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/119294

## Streaming the US now

- **The Criterion Channel:** [*Close-Up*](https://film.one/film/close-up.md) (92)
- **HBO Max:** [*Taste of Cherry*](https://film.one/film/taste-of-cherry.md) (86)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Abbas Kiarostami

> Abbas Kiarostami makes a request for help difficult to dismiss, giving the person asked as much attention as the person asking. We value his curiosity about both, even when his conversations last longer than they need to.

A child wants a goldfish, and the people around her have other things to do. In Jafar Panahi’s *The White Balloon* (1995), Abbas Kiarostami’s screenplay makes that difference funny without making the child’s urgency ridiculous. He writes people whose needs cannot be set aside simply because somebody else has arrived with a problem. We rate him highly because he takes both sides of these encounters seriously. His patience is usually repaid, though he sometimes keeps a conversation going after we have understood everybody in it.

A child’s search also drives *Where Is the Friend’s House?* (1987), the film that brought him international attention. With *Close-Up* (1990), the question becomes how much sympathy to give a man who has impersonated someone else. Kiarostami writes, directs and edits, combining a real fraud trial with reconstructions performed by those involved. His editing preserves the discomfort of watching the accused perform again, and the wish to matter makes this our strongest recommendation. We would still welcome more attention to the harm of the deception, rather than quite so much encouragement to understand the man responsible.

The rural lives and filmmaking in *Through the Olive Trees* (1994) are less consistently absorbing: the slight action sometimes gives us too little to watch. In *Taste of Cherry* (1997), Mr Badii’s search for someone to bury him after his planned suicide gives every conversation an immediate difficulty. Homayoun Ershadi makes him worth staying with, while cinematographer Homayun Payvar keeps the surrounding work and changing scenery in view. We were moved by the activity in the industrial desert, which made Badii’s isolation harder to bear. Kiarostami’s writing also gives the people asked to help a problem of their own: sending him away is difficult too.

In *The Wind Will Carry Us* (1999), the villagers have interests beyond accommodating their visitors, and the awkward encounters are often funny. Kiarostami also leaves people and events outside the frame, asking us to listen without supplying a view that settles everything. Sometimes another delay adds little, and his editing makes us wait after the purpose of waiting has become clear. We need the next encounter to deepen our interest in someone, not merely postpone an answer.

Later came the experiments of *Five* (2003) and *Shirin* (2008), then *Certified Copy* (2010), shot in Italy. There, Kiarostami turns arguments about originals and copies into a moving romance, with Juliette Binoche giving the talk its urgency. Editor Bahman Kiarostami holds faces long enough for listening to become as interesting as speaking, although the weaker dialogue gets the same generous treatment. Start with *Close-Up*; leave the longer arguments for an evening when nobody is watching the clock.

## Biography

Abbas Kiarostami was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, editor and producer. He was born in Tehran on 22 June 1940 and died in Paris on 4 July 2016. He studied painting and graphic arts at the University of Tehran and began his career designing film titles and working in advertising before joining the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults in 1969, where he established its film division and directed his first shorts.

Kiarostami directed, wrote, edited and produced *Taste of Cherry* (1997), which shared the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He also directed, wrote and edited *Close-Up* (1990). His other notable films include the Koker trilogy comprising *Where Is the Friend's House?* (1987), *Life, and Nothing More…* (1992) and *Through the Olive Trees* (1995), as well as *The Wind Will Carry Us* (1999), *Ten* (2002), *Certified Copy* (2010) and *Like Someone in Love* (2012). He worked extensively as a screenwriter, editor and producer throughout his career.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com, ifccenter.com.*

## On Fi1m (6)

### Directed (5)

- *Certified Copy* (2010), Fi1m 84, Director, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/certified-copy.md)
- *The Wind Will Carry Us* (1999), Fi1m 84, Writer, Editor, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-wind-will-carry-us.md)
- *Taste of Cherry* (1997), Fi1m 86, Writer, Director, Editor, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/taste-of-cherry.md)
- *Through the Olive Trees* (1994), Fi1m 77, as Self (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/through-the-olive-trees.md)
- *Close-Up* (1990), Fi1m 92, as Self — [page](https://film.one/film/close-up.md)

### Wrote (1) — the average rests on these

- *The White Balloon* (1995), Fi1m 87, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-white-balloon.md)

## Complete filmography (80)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *OTIS* (2026), Thanks
- *Bukhara Chronicles* (2025), as voice
- *The Mirror of Possible Worlds: Kiarostami on Aran* (2020), Actor
- *How to Make Use of Leisure Time: Painting* (2019), Screenplay, Director, Editor
- *24 Frames* (2018), Director
- *You are not alone* (2017), Actor
- *Final Exam* (2017), Screenplay
- *Take Me Home* (2016), Director, Cinematography
- *Passenger* (2016), Director, Writer, Screenplay
- *Cabeza de gallo* (2016), Supervising Producer
- *3 Portraits* (2016), Associate Producer
- *The Poetry of Cinema: Abbas Kiarostami in Conversation with Richard Peña* (2014), Actor
- *Venice 70: Future Reloaded* (2013), Director
- *The Girl in the Lemon Factory* (2013), Co-Writer, Editor
- *Making of 'Like Someone in Love'* (2012), as Narrator
- *Like Someone in Love* (2012), Director, Screenplay
- *Meeting Leila* (2012), Writer
- *No* (2010), Director
- *Certified Copy* (2010), Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/certified-copy.md)
- *Shirin* (2009), Director, Editor, Producer
- *Seagull Eggs* (2008), Director
- *To Each His Own Cinema* (2007), Director
- *Pierre Rissient: Man of Cinema* (2007), Cinematography
- *Persian Carpet* (2007), Director, Screenplay
- *Víctor Erice – Abbas Kiarostami: Correspondences* (2007), Director, Writer, Editor, Director of Photography
- *Almost Brooklyn* (2007), Supervising Producer
- *Roads of Kiarostami* (2006), Director, Editor, Director of Photography, Writer
- *Is There a Place to Approach?* (2006), Screenplay, Director
- *Men at Work* (2006), Screenplay
- *Tickets* (2005), Director, Screenplay
- *TropiAbbas* (2005), as Abbas Kiarostami
- *Around Five* (2005), Director
- *Friday's Soldiers* (2004), Title Designer
- *10 on Ten* (2004), Director, Producer, Writer, Sound Director, Cinematography, Editor
- *Journey to the Land of the Traveler* (2004), Actor
- *Five Dedicated to Ozu* (2003), Director, Director of Photography, Screenplay, Sound, Editor
- *Crimson Gold* (2003), Screenplay
- *Willow and Wind* (2003), Screenplay
- *Farda* (2002), Creative Consultant
- *Ten* (2002), Editor, Director, Director of Photography
- *Deserted Station* (2002), Writer
- *Abbas Kiarostami: Leçon de cinéma* (2002), as (himself)
- *ABC Africa* (2001), Director, Writer, Producer, Editor
- *Abbas Kiarostami commente son film* (2001), Actor
- *The Key* (2000), Editor, Screenplay
- *Kiarostami in Close up* (2000), as as Self
- *The Wind Will Carry Us* (1999), Director, Editor, Producer, Writer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/the-wind-will-carry-us.md)
- *Volte sempre, Abbas!* (1999), Screenplay
- *The Birth of Light* (1997), Director
- *Taste of Cherry* (1997), Director, Producer, Writer, Editor — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/taste-of-cherry.md)
- *Safar* (1996), Writer
- *Lumière & Company* (1995), Director
- *Concerning Nice* (1995), Writer, Director
- *The White Balloon* (1995), Writer — Fi1m 87, [page](https://film.one/film/the-white-balloon.md)
- *Through the Olive Trees* (1994), Writer, Director, Editor, Production Design, Producer — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/through-the-olive-trees.md)
- *Life, and Nothing More…* (1992), Director, Writer, Editor
- *Close-Up* (1990), Writer, Director, Editor — Fi1m 92, [page](https://film.one/film/close-up.md)
- *Homework* (1989), Director, Editor, Writer
- *Where Is The Friend's House?* (1987), Director, Editor, Screenplay
- *First Graders* (1984), Director, Writer, Editor
- *Fellow Citizen* (1983), Editor, Writer, Director
- *The Chorus* (1982), Director, Writer, Editor
- *Orderly or Disorderly?* (1981), Director, Editor, Writer
- *Toothache* (1980), Director, Screenplay, Editor
- *First Case, Second Case* (1979), Editor, Writer, Director
- *Solution No. 1* (1978), Writer, Director
- *The Report* (1977), Director, Screenplay
- *Tribute to the Teachers* (1977), Writer, Producer, Editor, Director
- *Jahan-Nama Palace* (1977), Director
- *Colors* (1976), Director, Editor, Writer, Producer
- *A Wedding Suit* (1976), Director, Editor, Screenplay, Producer
- *Two Solutions to One Problem* (1975), Director, Writer, Editor
- *So Can I* (1975), Producer, Director, Screenplay, Editor
- *The Traveler* (1974), Writer, Director, Producer
- *Experience* (1973), Director, Editor, Screenplay, Producer
- *Breaktime* (1972), Director, Writer
- *The Bread and Alley* (1970), Director, Producer
- *Qeysar* (1969), Title Designer
- *Taste Of Shirin : Making of Abbas Kiarostami's 'Shirin'*, as Abbas Kiarostami
- *The Scent of the Pitanga*, Original Story

## Gallery

- ![Installation art from Abbas Kiarostami Iranian film director (installed at Iran Art Organization). (2008)](https://film.one/media/person/78185/gallery-6f959916f83e.jpg) Installation art from Abbas Kiarostami Iranian film director (installed at Iran Art Organization). (2008) — fa:User:Farzaaaad2000 in Persian Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/7chenar_A.K2.JPG/1280px-7chenar_A.K2.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![El director Iraní Abbas Kiarostami durante la inauguración del Festival de Cine IBAFF de Murcia, de 2013](https://film.one/media/person/78185/gallery-7b03ae89502f.jpg) El director Iraní Abbas Kiarostami durante la inauguración del Festival de Cine IBAFF de Murcia, de 2013 — Pedro J Pacheco, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Abbas_Kiarostami-Murcia.jpg/1280px-Abbas_Kiarostami-Murcia.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Abbas Kiarostami](https://film.one/media/person/78185/gallery-a0408cc9e4a4.jpg) Abbas Kiarostami — Pedro J Pacheco, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Abbas_Kiarostami-Murcia_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Abbas Kiarostami in A.K. Film Seminar in Murcia, 2013](https://film.one/media/person/78185/gallery-8e39b084c80c.jpg) Abbas Kiarostami in A.K. Film Seminar in Murcia, 2013 — Pedro J Pacheco, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Abbas_Kiarostami_-_Murcia_2.jpg/1280px-Abbas_Kiarostami_-_Murcia_2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Abbas Kiarostami](https://film.one/media/person/78185/gallery-ae515d8d491e.jpg) Abbas Kiarostami — Image via TMDB
- ![Abbas Kiarostami](https://film.one/media/person/78185/gallery-66260e9cfc42.jpg) Abbas Kiarostami — Image via TMDB
- ![Abbas Kiarostami](https://film.one/media/person/78185/gallery-7072c75755fd.jpg) Abbas Kiarostami — Image via TMDB
- ![عباس کیارستمی در مراسم افتتاح فیلم‌های «لباسی برای عروسی» و «مسافر» در مجتمع سینمایی کوروش (2014)](https://film.one/media/person/78185/gallery-b8a06ba82a3e.jpg) عباس کیارستمی در مراسم افتتاح فیلم‌های «لباسی برای عروسی» و «مسافر» در مجتمع سینمایی کوروش (2014) — Hossein Esmaeili, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Abbas_Kiarostami_20141220_01.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Abbas Kiarostami](https://film.one/media/person/78185/gallery-8a48afb93737.jpg) Abbas Kiarostami — Image via TMDB
- ![Abbas Kiarostami](https://film.one/media/person/78185/gallery-c6fa081b8c3f.jpg) Abbas Kiarostami — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 8 won

- Austrian Decoration for Science and Art 2014: Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (won)
- Annual award ACFK 2012: Annual award ACFK (won)
- honorary doctor of the Sorbonne Nouvelle University 2010: honorary doctor of the Sorbonne Nouvelle University (won)
- honorary doctor of the University of Toulouse-II 2007: honorary doctor of the University of Toulouse-II (won)
- Praemium Imperiale 2004: Praemium Imperiale (won)
- honorary doctorate from ENS 2003: honorary doctorate from ENS (won)
- honorary doctor of Ca' Foscari University of Venice 2003: honorary doctor of Ca' Foscari University of Venice (won)
- Konrad Wolf Prize 2003: Konrad Wolf Prize (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/abbas-kiarostami