Photo: AFP/2014 AFP

Abbas Kiarostami, the acclaimed Iranian filmmaker, has died in Paris at the age of 76. Kiarostami had reportedly been receiving treatment for gastrointestinal cancer, going to France for operations. The experimental auteur won a Palme d’Or in 1997 when he debuted his Taste of Cherry at Cannes. Kiarostami’s other celebrated works include Close-Up and Certified Copy, among others. Kiarostami was born in Tehran in 1940, and he stayed in Iran after the revolution. While in Iran, Kiarostami started the film department at Kanun, Iran’s Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults. Later in his career, faced with the political challenges of working in Iran, the director made both Certified Copy and Like Someone in Love abroad. Iran’s ISNA news agency confirmed the news of his death.