Quer durch den Olivenhain

Staggered perceptions and constructions of reality. In WO IST DAS HAUS MEINES FREUNDES? (1987), Abbas Kiarostami told a short, moral story about the value of friendship and solidarity; the film was shot in a village that soon ceased to exist due to an earthquake. In UND DAS LEBEN GEHT WEITER (1992), he reported on this location, on its old and new reality - on what was left after the natural disaster and who of the people seen in the first film is still alive. In QUER DURCH DEN OLIVENHAIN, Kiarostami finally talks about the shooting of that second film, about the ethical problems that arose during the work; and about the happiness that, despite all the hardship, always grew alongside the film images. A kind of lesson, also about the relationship between cinema, reality and reality. (Olaf Möller)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum.