Abbas Kiarostami, Award-Winning Iranian Filmmaker, Dies At 76

Abbas Kiarostami in 2013

Award-winning Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami, whose Taste of Cherry won Cannes' top prize in 1997, has died, Iranian news agencies report.

He was 76.

ISNA said Kiarostami died in Paris, where he had been undergoing medical treatment for cancer.

The news agency reported that Kiarostami was diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer earlier this year and had undergone several operations.

His death has been confirmed by Iran's House of Cinema.

The Tehran-born filmmaker remained in Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but he shot his last two films in Europe.

Kiarostami, who had made more than 40 films, including documentaries, was the only Iranian to win the Palme d’Or.

Tributes are being paid to Kiarostami, who was hugely influential in world cinema.

The New York cinema magazine The Film Stage said on Twitter "the world may have lost its greatest filmmaker."

The Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin described him as a "miracle-worker disguised as a close-up magician."

Based on reporting by the BBC, The Guardian, and AFP