Iranian Filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami to Receive WGA International Screenwriting Honor

The late writer-director was a pioneer of the Iranian New Wave.

Filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami will receive the Writers Guild of America, West's 2017 Jean Renoir Award for International Screenwriting Achievement.

The late Iranian writer-director, who passed away in July, was known for such films as Taste of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us and his Koker trilogy, among others. Kiarostami was a pioneer of the Iranian New Wave and also was an accomplished photographer and painter. His last film was 2012’s Like Someone in Love, a romantic drama set in Japan, which was nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes.

His son, Ahmad Kiarostami, will accept the guild’s honorary award on his father’s behalf.

"Abbas Kiarostami was, as Martin Scorsese put it, ‘one of those rare artists with a special knowledge of the world,’" said Guild president Howard A. Rodman in a statement. "As a founding father of the New Iranian Cinema, Kiarostami navigated tricky political and cultural terrains with courage and grace."

Previous Jean Renoir Award honorees include Italian screenwriters Suso D'Amico and Tonino Guerra; Japanese filmmakers Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Ryûzô Kikushima and Hideo Oguni; and Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar.

Kiarostami will be honored during the WGAW’s 2017 Writers Guild Awards ceremony on Feb. 19 at the Beverly Hilton.