Close-up

Uganda, March 2000. At the request of the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development, Abbas Kiarostami and Seifollah Samadian arrive in Kampala. For 10 days, their DV cameras capture the faces of thousands of children, all orphans whose parents have died of AIDS. They record tears and laughter, music and silence, life and death. The documentary attests to Africa's sunny resilience in the face of so much suffering and disease.

An English author visits Italy to promote his latest book and give a lecture on the relationship between originals and copies in the world of art. He meets a French art gallery owner and they decide to spend a couple of hours walking through the alleyways of a small village in the southern part of Tuscany.

Middle-aged Mr. Badii wishes to die in a society where suicide is considered an abomination. Driving in the hills above Tehran, he meets an assortment of different characters: Afghans; Kurds; Turks; prisoners of the desert; a soldier; a seminary student, and a museum employee. But each character has his or her own reasons to turn down the job: fear, religious scruples or the humanist?s revulsion at a life wilfully squandered. Taste of Cherry is an emotionally complex meditation on life and death.