Abbas Kiarostami, the eminent Iranian director of the award-winning Taste of Cherry, has died from cancer aged 76.

Kiarostami died in Paris where he had travelled to receive treatment for gastrointestinal cancer, Iranian news agencies have reported.

Kiarostami won the Palme d'Or for his minimalist 1997 film Taste of Cherry, the story of a middle aged man driving around Tehran in search of someone to bury him after killing himself. The film also won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Language film.

He was the only Iranian director to ever be awarded the Palme d'Or. In a career spanning 40 decades, he also wrote and directed the 2010 film Certified Copy, starring the French actress Juliette Binoche.

His 2002 film Ten was his most radically minimalist work. Its plot followed a woman as she drove around in a car, stopping to give lifts to passengers.

The influence of his oeuvre could be seen in cinema from around the globe. Filmmaker Martin Scorsese led tributes to Kiarostami, who he became friends with over the last 15 years.

Scorsese said in a statement to the Associated Press: "He was a very special human being: quiet, elegant, modest, articulate and quite observant. I don't think he missed anything. Our paths crossed too seldom, and I was always glad when they did. He was a true gentleman and, truly, one of our great artists."