Filmmaker Quotations

Hollywood is a wonderful machine for making big movies. In France, we make smaller and more personal films, but if things keep changing, this will disappear. The industry in Italy is practically gone. Cinecitta now is used mostly by filmmakers from others places, like Martin Scorsese.

I feel like I've been observed as an individual more than a gay person, or as a filmmaker with a certain point of view rather than a lesbian filmmaker with a gay point of view.

I think as a filmmaker one should make all kinds of films. It is not that one should make only one kind of film. I love to see romantic films; I loved watching 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge,' 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.' If I make such films, I will make it with my yardstick, according to my parameters.

If anything, the films that succeeded this summer and the films that failed have emboldened me and filmmakers who share my sensibility that we don't want to just churn out the same old thing,

If a filmmaker and I don't get along, it's four weeks of your life, so, whatever. With TV, it's six years.

Tribeca Film Festival Doha will promote Middle Eastern themes and filmmakers, but not exclusively. Approximately 40 films will be presented at the new Museum of Islamic Art and in cinemas across Doha. Innovative work by established filmmakers will be shown alongside the debuts of newly discovered directing talents.

No other filmmaker has gotten a better shake than I have; I never had to direct a film I didn't choose and develop. Eleven years ago, I had a heart transplant. I got the heart of a young woman who is in her late 30s. So by that calculation, you may be giving me this award too early, because I think I've got 40 years left, and I intend to use them.

No other filmmaker has gotten a better shake than I have. I'm very fortunate in my career. I've never had to direct a film I didn't choose or develop. My love for filmmaking has given me an entree to the world and to the human condition.

'Beyond the Lights' was my fourth film. I gained a lot of knowledge, and I'm excited to share that with young filmmakers because I know how lost I was coming out of film school with that question of 'What's next?'

All I can say is that I am not one of those writers who want 100% of their book in the film. I recognize that film is a different medium and the filmmaker must have the right to bring some new elements to the table, provided the soul of the book is preserved.