Through The Olive Trees- Abbas Kiarostami (2025)

Abbas Kiarostami is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and producer. Born in 1940 in Tehran, Iran, Kiarostami began his career as a filmmaker in the 1970s, making short films and documentaries. He gained international recognition in the 1990s with films like "Through the Olive Trees" and "Close-Up," and has since become one of the most celebrated and influential filmmakers in the world. Kiarostami's films are known for their poetic and nuanced exploration of Iranian culture and society, and he has been recognized with numerous awards and honors for his contributions to cinema.

As the concluding chapter of Kiarostami’s unofficial “Koker Trilogy”—following Where Is the Friend’s House? (1987) and And Life Goes On (1992)— Through the Olive Trees is a vertiginous hall of mirrors. It is a film about a film about a disaster, a meta-cinematic triumph that dissolves the boundary between reality, fiction, and the stubborn persistence of human hope. Through the olive trees- Abbas Kiarostami

But Tahereh, bound by her real-life disdain and cultural codes, looks at the lens instead. Or slightly to the left. Or at the ground. Take after take fails. The crew grows weary. Kiarostami—the real Kiarostami, directing this film—holds on the shot for an excruciating length of time. We watch the artifice of filmmaking grind to a halt because of a real glance that will not be given. Abbas Kiarostami is an Iranian film director, screenwriter,