TEHRAN-The Cinema Museum in Tehran will hold a special ceremony on June 21 on the occasion of the 84th birth anniversary of the late Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami (June 22, 1940 - July 4, 2016).

Titled “Happy Birthday Abbas Kiarostami,” the program will include the screening of the feature documentary “76 Minutes and 15 Seconds with Kiarostami” (2016) by Seifollah Samadian, a speech by Samadian about Kiarostami and their collaboration, as well as a narration of the celebrated director’s life and activities by voice artists Shahrad Banki and Mojgan Asghari, ISNA reported.

A famous Iranian photographer and filmmaker, Samadian, 70, was a close collaborator of Kiarostami. He started his career as a photographer since 1968 and as a documentary filmmaker since 1978. He’s been involved as a jury, curator of photo exhibitions, and running workshops in numerous national and international events and he’s also founding director of the Annual Image Visual Arts Festival and Tassvir Film Festival since 2003. He’s also running Tassvir (Image) Magazine as a founder and chief editor since 1991.

“76 Minutes and 15 Seconds with Kiarostami” is a Portrait of an artist, whose exceptional approach to art and life, defined him as one of the most ardent admirers of life itself. The leading aim of this documentary is to share 76 minutes and 15 seconds of undiscovered moments of Kiarostami’s life and work, in commemoration of his 76 years and 15 days of the creative journey. The shots of this documentary are selected out of hundreds of hours of footage, filmed during 25 years of friendship, inside and outside Iran on various occasions: film festivals, photo exhibitions, photography sessions, artistic events, workshops, and some unique moments of his daily life.

Kiarostami was a film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, he was involved in the production of over 40 films, including shorts and documentaries. He attained critical acclaim for directing “Close-Up” (1990), “The Wind Will Carry Us” (1999), and “Taste of Cherry” (1997). In later works, “Certified Copy” (2010) and “Like Someone in Love” (2012), he filmed for the first time outside Iran: in Italy and Japan, respectively.

He was part of a generation of filmmakers in the Iranian New Wave, a Persian cinema movement that started in the late 1960s and emphasized the use of poetic dialogue and allegorical storytelling dealing with philosophical issues. He is known for his use of Persian poetry in the dialogue, titles, and themes of his films. His films also contain a notable degree of ambiguity, an unusual mixture of simplicity and complexity, and often a mix of fictional and documentary elements. The concepts of change and continuity, in addition to the themes of life and death, play a major role in Kiarostami's works.

The Cinema Museum of Iran is located in Tehran’s upscale Bagh-e-Ferdows neighborhood, Valiasr St., near Tajrish Square.

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