Pompidou Center to pay tribute to Abbas Kiarostami

The Pompidou Center in France has scheduled to screen the documentary ‘Walking with the Wind’ while paying tribute to the late-great Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami.

Directed by Mehdi Shadizadeh in 2019, the documentary will go on the French screen in Paris on June 18.

The doc attempts to portray Kiarostami’s multiple artistic dimensions, and not just those of a filmmaking giant.

Seen through the eyes of a group of contemporaries made up of a filmmaker, an artist, a poet, a photographer, a graphic designer, a film critic and a gallery owner, we realize that Kiarostami was himself a poet, photographer, graphic designer, artist and woodcutter all rolled into one; a composite artist, and veritable modern-day Renaissance man.

Dreamlab Films, the France-based international distributor under Iranian film expert Nasrin Mirshab, is handling the international sales of the documentary.

“Abbas Kiarostami, recognized as one of the greatest ever international filmmaking authors, has always been a motivational idol of mine and for whom I bear the greatest respect,” Shadizadeh has written on his film.

“However, he was not only a filmmaker, he was also a photographer, poet, painter and woodcutter, aspects of his life often overlooked.

With this film, I wanted to show Kiarostami in all his multiple aspects and not just concentrate on his cinematic brilliance. In doing so I sought out those who had known him, other artists and filmmakers, in order to build up a composite portrait of the man himself,” he had added.

This film shows Golestan Gallery owner Lili Golestan, painter Aidin Aghdashlou, filmmaker Kianoush Ayyari, poet Javad Mojabi, photographer Maryam Zandi, graphic designer Ebrahim Haqiqi, and film critic Mohsen Azarm, commenting about Kiarostami.

Screening the documentary is part of Pompidou Center’s program “Where Is Friend Kiarostami?”, which has been underway since May 5 to pay tribute to Kiarostami.

The program is organized in collaboration with the French company MK2 Films and the Kiarostami Foundation will exhibit an oeuvre of Kiarostami until July 5.

The entire works of Kiarostami, from films to photos and poems, are on view at the exhibition.

Numerous guests have been invited to attend the sessions reviewing 46 films by Kiarostami in the retrospective.

The exhibit also features collections of videos and documents, series of his unpublished photographs, sequences of his most beautiful films and presentations of his works on classical and contemporary poetry.

The veteran Iranian filmmaker passed away on July 4, 2016, following a heart attack at the age of 76. He was honored at more than 300 events around the world.

Read more:

Kiarostami film teaches good life lesson for COVID-19 pandemic

An exhibition of Abbas Kiarostami films to launch in Paris

Hong Kong to review Abbas Kiarostami’s shorts

Kiarostami film ranked top in Far Out

MG/MG