Thousands in Iran attend funeral of film director

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Thousands of Iranians attended the Sunday funeral ceremony of the acclaimed Iranian film director, Abbas Kiarostami, who died last week at the age of 76 in Paris.

Officials, artists and film lovers gathered to say goodbye to Kiarostami at the Center for the Intellectual Education of Children, where he began his film-making career some 40 years ago.

During the ceremony his fellow director, Asghar Farhadi, who won Iran's first Oscar for A Separation in 2012 said, I can't believe that I am making speech on the occasion of his eternal departure.