Late filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami to receive screenwriting award

Late Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami has been selected to receive an honorary award from the Writers Guild of America for his achievements in screenwriting.

Abbas Kiarostami’s son, Ahmad Kiarostami, will accept the Writers Guild of America, West's 2017 Jean Renoir Award for International Screenwriting Achievement on his father’s behalf.

The late writer-director has been critically hailed as a pioneer of the Iranian New Wave.

“Abbas Kiarostami was, as Martin Scorsese put it, ‘one of those rare artists with a special knowledge of the world,’” said Guild president, Howard A. Rodman, in a statement.

“As a founding father of the New Iranian Cinema, Kiarostami navigated tricky political and cultural terrains with courage and grace,” Rodman added.

The prominent Iranian director was known for such films as ‘Taste of Cherry’, ‘The Wind Will Carry Us’ and his ‘Koker’ trilogy, among others.

Kiarostami was also an accomplished photographer and painter. His last film was ‘Like Someone in Love’ (2012), a romantic drama set in Japan, which was nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes.

Previous Jean Renoir Award honorees include Italian screenwriters Suso D'Amico and Tonino Guerra; Japanese filmmakers Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Ryûzô Kikushima and Hideo Oguni; and Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar.

Kiarostami will be honored during the WGAW’s 2017 Writers Guild Awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton in the US state of California on February 19.

Several prestigious festivals and film events have already honored the noted Iranian director as well as paid homage to Kiarostami by presenting retrospectives of his works.

Iran’s iconic director, Kiarostami, died in July 2016 at the age of 76.

AI/AI