Abbas Kiarostami, Renowned World Cinema Director, Passes Away

Abbas Kiarostami, the renowned world cinema director who had gone to France for treatment, passed away in Paris at the age of 76 on Monday afternoon, July 14. Iranian news agencies reported that Mr. Kiarostami died after enduring a period of illness. He had left Iran for France on July 8 to continue his treatment, but due to the worsening of his illness, he passed away in Paris. According to Mehr News Agency, the filmmaker had been struggling with a gastrointestinal disease since last Esfand (February) and his treatment progressed in such a way that not only did his condition not improve, but it also worsened, leading to the decision to continue his treatment outside of Iran in France. He was the creator of films such as "Taste of Cherry," "Report," "Where Is the Friend's House?" "Homework," "The Wind Will Carry Us," "Life, and Nothing More," "Close-Up," and "Through the Olive Trees," which have won numerous awards at global festivals. Abbas Kiarostami is the only Iranian filmmaker to have received the Palme d'Or from the Cannes Film Festival, which he won for "Taste of Cherry" in 1997. The Guardian published a list in 2011 of the 40 greatest contemporary film directors in the world, placing Abbas Kiarostami sixth, above many renowned figures in cinema such as David Cronenberg, David Fincher, Steven Soderbergh, Pedro Almodóvar, and Gus Van Sant. In addition to cinema, Kiarostami was active in other artistic fields including poetry, photography, installation, music, graphic design, and painting. He was born in 1939 in Tehran and was accepted into the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran, where he focused on painting and graphic design. While studying, Kiarostami worked as a traffic police officer to support his living expenses. According to IRNA, this Iranian director worked as an advertising painter in the Haft Atelier and a couple of other institutions from 1961, designing book covers, posters, and advertisements, and later moved to "Film Advertising." From 1967, he worked at the Negar Advertising Organization, designing and creating film credits, the first of which was for the film "The Devil's Temptation" directed by Mohammad Zarein Dasht. Kiarostami designed the poster and created the credits for the films "Gheisar" and "Reza Motorcylist" directed by Masoud Kimiai. Later, at the invitation of Firooz Shirvanlou, who was responsible for the "Cinematic Affairs of the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults," he went to the institute and made several cinematic works there. In this context, Kiarostami underwent surgery again. The Deputy of Iran University of Medical Sciences stated: Kiarostami does not have cancer. Kiarostami was transferred from the intensive care unit to the general ward. Abbas Kiarostami was discharged from the hospital.