MUMBAI: Acclaimed Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami will lead the Asian Film Academy (AFA) in a series of film workshops, master classes and special seminars designed to share knowledge on the present film production environment offered by Pusan International Film Festival that starts on 7 October.

Other faculty members of the AFA will include Japanese director Ogiganami Naoko and Korean cinematographer Kim Hyung-gu.

In the past years were celebrated directors including Taiwan‘s Hou Hsiao-Hsien (2005), Im Kown-taek (2006) and Japan‘s Kurosawa Kiyoshi (2009).

Kiarostami gained international recognition when he won the Bronze Leopard award at the Locarno International Film Festival in 1989 with his film Where is the Friend‘s Home (1987). His film Certified Copy was invited to this year‘s Cannes for which the film‘s heroine Juliette Binoche won the Best Actress award.

The Asian Film Academy started in 2005 in cooperation with PIFF and Dongseo University. Since then, the AFA has produced 123 graduates from 24 different Asian countries including emerging directors such as Boo Jun-Feng whose film Sandcastle was invited to this year‘s Cannes Film Festival.