I thought that choosing a non-professional was a condition for me, because it would allow Juliette to have a less-professional way of acting. It would challenge her performance as a professional actress.

In order to be able to cooperate with a child, you have to come down to below their level in order to communicate with them. Actors are also like children.

I think it was [Jean-Luc] Godard who said that life is nothing but a bad copy of film, but then our ambition must be to make better films and better shapes of forms that are given in life.

In my mind, there isn't as much of a distinction between documentary and fiction as there is between a good movie and a bad one.

I don't like reverse-angle shots - I find them very fake and very untruthful to the viewer.

If I do continue to have the opportunity to work in Iran, that's very much what I'd prefer to do.

The day we run out of petrol is the day Iran will be free.