(b. 1940)
Born in Tehran, Abbas Kiarostami is today one of the most important figures of the contemporary Iranian film history. Kiarostami studied Fine Arts at the University of Tehran and worked as a designer and illustrator throughout the 1960s in advertising. In 1969 Kiarostami founded the film department at the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults. Kiarostami has made more than 20 films, including fiction features, educational shorts, feature-length documentaries, and a series of films for television. He was awarded the prestigious Palm d’Or award at the Cannes Film Festival for his film ‘Taste of Cherry’ in 1997 and the Un Certain Regard award in 1992 at Cannes. He is also a published poet and a photographer and has had numerous gallery exhibitions of his photography, short films and poetry.