10 on Ten

In this documentary Abbas Kiarostami explains his own method. The film takes place inside a car from beginning to end. The director is at the wheel and talks to the camera. The road runs through the hills where he shot Taste of Cherry. The account is divided into ten parts. The headings of those parts read like lessons. The camera, the subject, the script, the location, the music, the actor, the accessories and the director are each taken up in turn. The part at the end is a closing lesson. Kiarostami talks in particular about Ten, which he made in 2001. He explains step by step how he shot it. He describes what the small camera gave him. He shows by example how he works with actors. The documentary proceeds like a master class. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2004. The eighty eight minute documentary has Abbas Kiarostami describing his own cinema. It is an Iranian and French co-production he finished in 2004.