Abbas Kiarostami, Palme d’Or winning Iranian director, dies at 76: reports

One of the brightest stars of Iran’s cinema, Kiarostami was born in Tehran in 1940 and rose from relatively humble origins before becoming part of the so-called Iranian New Wave of cinema in the 1960s.

He stayed on in his country after the Islamic revolution in 1979, but had been working internationally for the past decade.

The news agency IRNA reported that he had undergone several unsuccessful operations in Iran between February and April, and that his body would be repatriated for burial.