Abbas Kiarostami, the veteran Iranian film-maker, has been remembered at the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles. Kiarostami, widely felt to be one of the most important directors of the past 20 years, was behind such classics as Close-Up, Taste of Cherry and The Wind Will Carry Us.

The winner of more than 70 awards – including the Palme d’Or at Cannes – he was never nominated for an Oscar.

Kiarostami died in Paris in July 2016 after suffering from cancer. His death opened fresh debate in his native Iran about the extent to which patients should be informed about the severity of their illnesses.

Speaking to the Guardian shortly after his death, his friend, the film-maker Asghar Farhadi – Oscar-nominated for The Salesman – said: “He was a modern mystic, both in his cinema and his private life. He definitely paved ways for others and influenced a great deal of people. It’s not just the world of cinema that has lost a great man; the whole world has lost someone really great.”