The Kiarostami Brand

This thesis focuses on an analysis of Iranian filmmaker, Abbas Kiarostami, from an authorship study point-of-view. Specifically, this study explores the creation of the commodity Kiarostami through an analysis of film reviews of the director’s Koker-Trilogy by Western film critics and scholars. It illustrates how Kiarostami has been mystified, which results in the current commodity Kiarostami. By discussing the three most often used authorship approaches to discussing this director’s work—origin, personality, and reading strategy—it is illustrated how these approaches have shaped the Westerners’ understanding of this man and his films. Resulting, a modified authorship approach is proposed to decrease the impact auteur study has on a filmmaker’s image.