The Wind Will Carry Us

I learnt a lot from Abbas Kiarostami. When I was his assistant on The Wind Will Carry Us, I discovered the importance of the location, the local people, the sound, and the relationship with the crew. These are things I carried over into my own films.

I am generally very much under the influence of Kiarostami’s movies, especially the more recent ones. I think The Wind Will Carry Us is his masterpiece. The use of sound and the structure of the movie, the way he creates tension… He is a master. I am always trying to learn from him.

I would say Kiarostami is someone whose films I really admire, and particularly The Wind Will Carry Us. And there are moments in my films where characters are inside cars, driving around and having conversations. Maybe there's a stylistic similarity in those parts. I wasn’t thinking about Kiarostami while I was doing it, but I think that critics picking that up is probably very natural. Perhaps it’s like a kind of unconscious influence.