The only thing that I can do is hold a mirror in front of men and women, in front of the viewer in the theater, to reflect. There is nothing but reflection that I could intend to offer the viewer of the film.

The digital camera has given me total freedom and a different way of filming.

I think Woody Allen is Woody Allen, and no matter where he goes he still makes his Woody Allen films.

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.

I don't ask my students to have studied film or any education in general. What I ask them is to come and sit and tell me a story, and the way they choose it and tell it, for me, the best criteria for whether they are right for making films. There's nothing more important than being able to tell your story orally.

If you are a businessman or a politician in Iran, you can get a visa as quickly as you ask for it.

A digital camera does have many advantages and I was a believer that digital video would be a big influence on film-making.