French Oscar winner and last November’s PLAYBOY égerie Juliette Binoche is in Tehran for the second time, she says to know Iran and Iranians better.
French actress Juliette Binoche, who is working on a new film with celebrated Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, is visiting Iran in order to deepen her knowledge of the country, the ISNA agency reported Wednesday.
“When you work with someone you have to know them,” Binoche told the agency about Kiarostami, who won the 1997 Palme d’Or at Cannes for his “Taste of Cherry”.
“I have tasted being in Iran but I wanted to perceive it deeply,” she told ISNA. “I want to know Iran , Iranians, their life style, history and philosophy. I had the chance to be a guest in some Iranians’ house and that was the opportunity which I wanted to use to have direct contact with Iran’s history and philosophy.” Binoche asserted that the East and West’s cultures are not in conflict with each other and went on to say that years ago Iranian started coming to west and now it’s time for the West to start coming to Iran in order to know this country. “Reading Maulana Rumi and Ibn Arabi’s writings helped me to get close to Iran’s philosophic tradition,” she said. She pointed to her upcoming team up with Iranian prominent filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami noting another reason for this trip was to know the director. Also regarding Kiarostami’s project on Iran’s great poet Hafez, she said “we have talked over the issue but the only problem is that I don’t know Persian.” She added she had read Hafez’ poems almost 20 years ago and has been inspired by the lyrics while acting in “Breaking And Entering” by Anthony Minghella .
The Iranian auteur is working on his new picture “The Certified Copy” in Italy and has cast Binoche as a gallery owner enjoying a brief encounter with a British writer. It will be his first feature since 2002’s “Ten”.
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