‘76 Minutes and 15 Seconds with Abbas Kiarostami - Seifollah Samadian’

In the presence of Agnès Devictor.

This 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 Abbas Kiarostami’s life and work, in commemoration of his 76 years and 15 days of creative journey. The shots of this documentary are selected out of hundreds of hours of footages , filmed during 25 years of friendship, inside and outside Iran in various occasions: film festivals, photo exhibitions, photography sessions, artistic events, workshops and some unique moments of his daily life.

Born in 1954 in Oroumieh (Iran), Seifollah Samadian 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. He made his first short documentary film, “Iranian Revolution” in 1979. “76 Minutes and 15 Seconds with Abbas Kiarostami” is his last feature documentary. 

"76 Minutes and 15 seconds with Abbas Kiarostami" by Seifollah Samadian will be preceeded by the screening of "Take me home" by Abbas Kiarostami.

TAKE ME HOME 

(Iran, 2016, 16 min)

Abbas Kiarostami takes his camera to south of Italy and shows us a beautiful and playful video of alleys and stairs there. Premiering recently at Venice, shot in Black and white in the south of Italy, Abbas Kiarostami’s last short film masks a carefully constructed narrative that highlights the deceptive nature of his filmmaking and his deft manipulation of time and space.

Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer, Abbas Kiarostami had been involved from 1940 in over forty films, including shorts and documentaries. He attained critical acclaim for directing Close-Up (1990), Taste of Cherry (1997) – Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival that year – and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999). In his later works, Certified Copy (2010) and Like Someone in Love (2012).