Born in Tehran in 1940, Abbas Kiarostami studied fine art. In 1969, he created the cinema department at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where the Iranian New Wave was born. It was there that he produced most of his films until 1992, including his first short, The Bread and Alley (1970) and his first feature The Traveler (1974). He came to notice for his trilogy: Where is the Friend’s Home? (1987), Life and Nothing More… (1992), and Through the Olive Trees (1994) – in competition at the Festival de Cannes. Taste of Cherry won the Palme d’Or in 1997 and The Wind Will Carry Us won the jury prize at Venice in 1999. He returned to Cannes in competition with Ten (2002), Certified Copy (2010) – for which Juliette Binoche won best actress – and Like Someone in Love (2012). Before his death, Kiarostami continued his photography and video installations, exhibiting all over the world, and his collections of poems have been translated into a dozen languages. He also staged Tazieh at the Teatro di Roma in 2003 as well as the opera Cosi fan Tutte for the 60th Festival of Aix-en-Provence.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
