Abbas Kiarostami (عباس کیارستمی in Persian) is one of the most important contemporary Iranian film directors.
He studied at the Tehran University’s Faculty of Fine Arts.
He founded 1970 the film department of the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, nowadays an important centre for Iranian film contemporary film making.
While having been involved and active within Iran since long before the Iranian Revolution he became internationally known in the 1980's and '90s due to his repeated participation at international Film festivals. He has won the Palm d'Or at Cannes Film Festival for his movie Taste of Cherry in 1997.
His films are characterised by involvement of lay actors and simple but highly symbolic story telling.