Conversations with Kiarostami

by Godfrey Cheshire (auth), A., Ahmad Kiarostami (Foreword by)

Conversations with Kiarostami collects for the first time a far ranging series of interviews with the celebrated director Abbas Kiarostami by film critic, and Iranian cinema expert, Godfrey Cheshire.

Conducted in the 1990s, these in-depth conversations offer a film-by-film account of Kiarostami’s views of his artistic development from his first short “Bread and Alley” in 1970 to the 1999 feature The Wind Will Carry Us, covering his lesser known, and seldom written about, shorts from earlier in his career, along with the masterworks that made him world famous, such as the Koker Trilogy (Where Is the Friend’s House?, And Life Goes On, Through the Olive Trees), Close-Up and Taste of Cherry. The book includes a Foreword by Ahmad Kiarostami, the director’s son, as well as an introduction from Cheshire that contextualizes the interviews and discusses his relationship with the director.

“During Godfrey’s several visits to Iran throughout a decade, he formed a relationship with my father that I had rarely seen him having with other writers. I believe this is because of Godfrey’s ability to go beyond the surface; his unique views and interpretations…It is well-known that Godfrey was one of the first people who introduced the Iranian cinema to America and, yet, there is no trace of the usual “exotic” approach…That is what you will find in this book: a refreshing conversation with Abbas that has substance, and is far from cliché.”—Ahmad Kiarostami, from his foreword.

“For Kiarostami’s own overview of his early career, I’d recommend Conversations with Kiarostami by the critic and filmmaker Godfrey Cheshire.”—Richard Brody, The New Yorker

Genres: Film, Iran, Nonfiction

188 pages, Paperback

Reviews

[Bud Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flat out amazing.
First I watched The Koker trilogy (some of the best movies I’ve ever seen ... the whole is greater than the sum of its parts — watch them in order Where is the Friends House?, And Life Goes On, concluding with Through the Olive Trees — within a week of each other). Then I watched Close-Up (wonderful) and then read these interviews, pgs 109-160. I got so much out of reading Kiarostami’s thoughts on art, life, death, and everything in between than I thought possible. Damnnnn.

I haven’t seen his earlier shorts, or the films, Taste of Cherry on ... but when I do I’ll return here and read the interviews that relate to those films. Pgs 109-160, Truly inspiring interviews here. Entertaining, thought provoking, pick it up, watch the films.

[Silver Õun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kui Kiarostami filmid on jäämäe tipp, siis mõtted, mida Kiarostami Cheshire'ile elust, luulest ja filmitegemisest avaldab, on kõik, mis vee alla jääb. Või vastupidi. Ühte jäämäge saab ju lõppeks ka ümber keerata nagu saab ka raamatut käest panna, et seejärel korduvalt nähtud filmidest aina uut avastada.

[Joe Ballschneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

This dude loves children and vignettes. Cool guy, healthy amount of arrogance.

[Collin Hotchkiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only thing keeping it from 5 stars is it ends before the 2000s, so while not the author’s fault, it misses a fertile period of Kiarostami’s career.

[Rusteen Honardoost · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this series of interviews conducted in the late 90's, Kiarostami speaks candidly about his philosophy, poetry, family, death, children, and (occasionally) filmmaking.

What's most striking in these conversations is how casually Kiarostami approaches making a film. He hardly ever wrote more than 3 pages of outlines, which makes sense when you hear him describe his love of haikus that simply evoke moods and feelings, never stories.

Having only seen "Taste of Cherry", I found the descriptions of each to be incredibly enlightening and intriguing. The interviewer is always able to focus in on what makes each film unique, and gives Kiarostami room to agree and/or disagree with them.

The appendix features the New York Times article about Kiarostami that resulted from these extensive interviews. It's not often you get to see a behind the scenes look at an article like this, and I found that to be interesting as well, although it's also a painful reminder that his untimely death robbed us of more conversations.

Perhaps the best compliment I could give this book then is to say that I feel like I really have had a conversation with Kiarostami having read it. It's a blessed feeling, and I think he most of all would appreciate the unreality of this one sided relationship.

[Noah Ringrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

“You want to be in the safety of the mountains.”

I felt a bit of frustration whilst reading this, Kiarostami is quite blunt and dry with his replies, he tends not to overexplain or over-philosophise his films, there isn’t much in the way of length discussions etc…I found this to be a let down until I reached the 3/4 mark where he was discussing his films I am most familiar with and it dawned on me that these films don’t need discussing to great depth, he is showing life and death and living - sometimes that is enough and I think Kiarostami truly believed and lived that.

Would highly recommend for anyone who wants to hear this incredible director speak about his cinematic works further.

[Jenina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetic humanism and the difficult search.

Short and insightful textual supplement to Kiarostami’s body of work — including commissioned films that are no longer available.

“My characters have no meaning if separated from their location. You cannot erase their background behind me, can you?”

[Pau Peidro · Rating 5 out of 5]

AIAIAI esque ell ho és tot per mi

[Lucy Blumenfield]

this was great! shout out professor Peña for closing out the book

[Yü · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to road trip with Abbas !