I want to tell stories which require something of an audience, by way of thought, argument, emotion, because I'm more often in an audience than I am a maker of films, and that's the kind of movie I want to see.

Betrayals during war are childlike compared with our betrayals during peace.

As a teenager I was obsessed with music and with writing and performing songs.

The problem with growing up in a cafe was the cafe never closed, my parents worked every day of the year from morning to night. So it was a big menagerie of kids, business and cooking!

I don't hold with the notion that only bad books make good movies.

The BFI exists to celebrate all poets of world cinema, of the past and present.

My grandmother was a huge influence on me and the fact that there was this very strong, rather formidable presence of women in my life has been an enormous value.