KUROSAWA and KIAROSTAMI --- The Japanese Emperor and The Iranian Poet!!!
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AKIRA KUROSAWA graced the heavens on this day in 1998. Remembering one of celluloid's greatest masters on his 23rd death anniversary and looking back at excerpts from a wonderful conversation he had with the great ABBAS KIAROSTAMI in September 1993. Kurosawa only had praises of the highest order for Kiarostami's repertoire and believed him to be the only worthy successor to someone like Satyajit Ray.
Kurosawa once said, "I believe the films of Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami are extraordinary. Words cannot relate my feelings. I suggest you his films; and then you will see what I mean. Satyajit Ray passed away and I got very upset. But having watched Kiarostami’s films, I thank god because now we have a good substitute for him". And their conversation together is as wholesome as their great celluloid souvenirs and revolves around only one thing which was their eternal love for the Cinema❤️
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///KUROSAWA: I was in Cannes when you too, were there… of course, I had not seen your films then.
KIAROSTAMI: I had the chance to see your Madadayo in Cannes and you were sitting two rows ahead of me. It was a great opportunity to see you and your film at once. You may not know how popular you are in my country. Both the intellectuals and ordinary people like your works. In fact, you and the late Alfred Hitchcock are the most popular foreign filmmakers in Iran. Once one of the officials at the Iranian film industry said that you and Tarkovsky were the only foreign filmmakers whose film compiled with the value system of Iranian arts. I wish I could share the joy of meeting you with others in Iran.
KUROSAWA: I was a friend of Tarkovsky. Our friendship started during a visit to Moscow. I was twice invited to Iran more than a decade ago to join the jury of the Tehran International film festival....I’m sure there are other good filmmakers in Iran. However, what I like about your films is their simplicity and fluency, although it is really hard to describe them. One has to see them.
KIAROSTAMI: Critics believe that the stage and the screen are sacred, so no one should commit anything ordinary there. In their eyes naturalism is commonplace. They say everything must be exaggerated, as they believe your films are.
KUROSAWA: Maybe my actors’ behavior look exaggerated in your country, but they are definitely natural here. Cultural differences must not be taken for exaggeration. I have to say that I honestly enjoyed watching your films. They include appreciation for your working style. How do you work with children, in particular? They do not feel at home in my films and keep watching me in a discreet way.
KIAROSTAMI: Maybe that’s because you are Kurosawa. The children that work for me hardly know me. During the actual filming I try to pretend that I’m not the governor. Usually I ask the crew to judge about their acting. Of course, every needs a special trick, sometimes it is another story.
KUROSAWA: This is the cinema that must be supported and taken seriously. My children and grandchildren never see American films. They have their own boycotting system which rules out violent films. I wish this humanistic cinema could stand against all vulgarity. I’m sure good films are being made everywhere. But filmmaking in Europe and the States is going backwards while good films are being made in Asia and finding their way to International film festivals. The global screen is not for the films of only one country. Films make their viewers familiar with the cultural settings of their country of origins. If they are made according to a national culture then they will be welcomed abroad. My grandchildren and I made ourselves familiar with Iran and her people with your films.
KIAROSTAMI: You have said that films must be made with hearts and seen with hearts.
KUROSAWA: Yes, I did; unfortunately most Japanese people see films with brains and try to find flaws in it. Sometimes, critics ask questions for which I have no answer, because I have not thought about the matter when I was making the film. Films must be rather felt, but there are little feelings in recent films.///
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(Originally published as ‘The Emperor & I’: Abbas Kiarostami Meets Akira Kurosawa' in Film International Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 4—Autumn 1993)
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