Well-loved Iranian film director, Abbas Kiarostami died at the age of 76 on Monday. Kiarostami had been battling cancer. Hundreds of people in Iran are paying tribute to the man who's 1997 film "Taste of Cherry" won the prestigious Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival, and who also kept working despite government resistance. The president of Iran also expressed his condolences via Twitter.

Well-loved Iranian film director, Abbas Kiarostami died at the age of 76 on Monday. Kiarostami had been battling cancer.

Iran's official news agency IRNA said Kiarostami died in Paris, where he had gone for cancer treatments in late June. He was diagnosted with gastrointestinal cancer in March 2016 after he had two surgeries in Iran.

Kiarostami wrote and directed dozens of films over a career spanning more than 40 years. "Taste of Cherry", which told the story of an Iranian man looking for someone to bury him after he killed himself, won the top award at the Cannes Film Festival. Kiarostami also wrote and directed "Certified Copy", a 2010 film starring Juliette Binoche.

His other films include "Close-Up", "Ten", and "The Wind Will Carry Us".

On Tuesday night hundreds of Iranians, including many artists, gathered at the Tehran Cinema Museum to light candles beneath large portraits of the filmmaker.

"He was full of affection, peace and friendship, and these are evident in his movies," said Dariush Farhang, Iranian filmmaker and director.

"I was attached to his movies so closely that I was always waiting for a new one by him. Now I'm already missing all the movies he didn't get to make," said a Tehran resident named Mina Abulhassani.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also expressed condolences. He said on Twitter that the director's "different and deep attitude toward life and invitation to peace and friendship" would be a "lasting achievement".

Kiarostami's body will be flown back to Iran next week for the funeral.