I think its important for movies to recognize that they are part of a history of movies. I also think that most movies are about movies anyway, even if they're about something else.

You don't share the things you're forced to share [on a movie set].

I think the beauty of images is that they are by definition fetishes and every image (banal or not) as a fetish holds within it the promise of a sensuousness that (without generalizing) at least I, as a human being, am drawn to.

I want things to be characters and not me. Why would I want to play me?

The ability to have a choice in what you do is a privilege.

Communism destroyed so many generations. I look at my grandparents and their generation, and it's as if their lives were taken from them. It's really sad and frightening that something like that could have happened. But I don't really think of myself as Russian anymore. I didn't even live there for that long.

I'm fascinated by how ethnic communities have assimilated into massive capitalist environments.