Abbas Kiarostami, Global Art Cinema and the Material Imagination of Earth

What is it about?

This article examines the representations of the natural element of earth in a selection of films by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. It takes Kiarostami's work to be characteristic of global art cinema's self-conscious use of natural elements where those elements have material properties that can be utilized for aesthetic purposes. In Kiarostami's filmmaking, earth manifests in different ways: as unstable ground, as dust, as mountainous incline, and as rocky terrain, among others. His characters' engagement within this earthly milieu has important consequences for the narrative and thematic meanings of these films.

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