Arquivo

In this intensely contemplative film, Abbas Kiarostami invites the spectator, as he himself says, "to look at things that, in themselves, do not merit a more attentive gaze". In the north of Iran, on the edge of the Caspian Sea, the director used only a DV camera to film the simple events taking place 500 meters on the beach in front of his house - a piece of driftwood carried to and fro by the waves, people out on a walk along the seashore, noisy ducks, the desolate landscape of a beach in the winter. To Kiarostami, a whole world is revealed here. "This is work close to poetry and that has set me free from the obligation of narrative and the enslaving of directing". Through subtle changes in framing and gentle movements of the camera, the director actually creates a different atmosphere at each take. The film was first shown worldwide at the Cannes 2004 Film Festival where it was included as out of competition.