Abbas Kiarostami

Abbas Kiarostami bornJune 1940 is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. An active filmmaker since 1970, Kiarostami has been involved in over forty films, including shorts and documentaries. Kiarostami attained critical acclaim for directing the Koker trilogy , CloseUp , Taste of Cherry which was awarded the Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival that year and The Wind Will Carry Us . In his recent works, Certified Copy and Like Someone in Love , he filmed for the first time outside Iran in Italy and Japan, respectively.

Kiarostami was born in Tehran. His first artistic experience was painting, which he continued into his late teens, winning a painting competition at the age ofshortly before he left home to study at the University of Tehran School of Fine Arts. He majored in painting and graphic design, and supported his studies by working as a traffic policeman.

Source: Wikipedia