The 76-year-old award-winning scholar succumbed to a stroke in Paris on Monday, a few days after leaving Tehran.

In March 2016, Kiarostami was diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer, following which he underwent a series of operations.

Following the news of his death, the New York-based cinema magazine The Film Stage said that “the world may have lost its greatest filmmaker.”

Known for their modest style, dark realism, and sly humor, his films were usually shot in real locations, and with the use of non-actors.

His film The Wind Will Carry Us won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice film festival in 1999.

In 1997, Kiarostami’s film Taste of Cherry won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival.

In his late years, Kiarostami started to travel the world, making “Certified Copy” in Italy and “Like Someone in Love” in Japan.

Referring to his travels, he said he was attempting to make a narrative about “universal characters, that can be accessible to everyone.”