Acknowledged as one of the greatest filmmakers in contemporary cinema, the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami first entered the international film scene with his “earthquake trilogy,” set in the small Iranian town of Koker. The films' self-reflective blend of documentary and fiction, their use of nonactors, and the sheer poetry and beauty that emerged from their deceptively simple aesthetic changed not only Kiarostami's career, but arguably altered the entire shape of world cinema.
The first title, Where Is the Friend's Home?, revolves around a young child's search for a friend. After filming was completed, a devastating earthquake hit the region; Kiarostami returned to Koker to seek out his child actors, and to film And Life Goes On. . . and Through the Olive Trees, films “in which filmmaking itself becomes part of the humanistic inquiry” (New York Times).
While critics and programmers have titled these three works the “Koker Trilogy,” Kiarostami himself believes that it is the latter two, combined with his later film Taste of Cherry, that comprise a trilogy, one investigating the beauty, and fragility, of life.