Quotes from Kiarostami's "Ten on Ten"

But I don't believe the job of a filmmaker is to excite or move the viewer, merely through creating special moments. By simply showing the reality, one can make people think about their own or other people's acts or behaviour, and see and accept reality as it is. It's from this point that the viewer's duty to complete a work or a film begins.

In this cinema, what eventually remains on the screen is the actor. I believe that in a good movie, everything should fade away in the interest of the entirety of the film. A good shot is not one that stands out. A good musical score is one that goes almost unnoticed.

I don't believe the film is to be understood. Do we understand a piece of music? Do we understand a painting? Or the exact meaning of a poem? It's ambiguity that attracts us to a work, not understanding the subtext of the story.

I believe we can the viewer experience mental effort by using omission. He can become involved in the making of the film through his imagination. For the creative viewer this involvement is more interesting than false climaxes or the playing of ridiculous guessing games.

The first generation of filmmakers looked at life and made films. The second generation of filmmakers watched the films of the first generation, looked at life, and made films. The third generation just watched the films of the first and second generations and made films. The fourth generation, which is us, looks neither at life nor watches the films. We merely go through the catalogues and base our movies on technical capabilities.