My life in Greece influenced what I am. My father was in the left because he was against the king and his family, who had created a war against the Turks at the beginning of the last century to revive the Byzantine Empire. For three years, there was fighting, and all my father's friends died. So he hated the royal family.

In the U.S. more than any other place, the banking system is insane. Millions of Americans lost their houses. Because of what? Because of the banking system. This American banking system is also coming to Europe. We can say today that the banks and high financiers run the world.

Essentially, filmmakers have to be free and not directed by power or politicians.

We don't live in Disneyland. We live in blood and in time, not in Fantasyland. We live in a tragic world.

People say "the Americans" or "the United States," as if it was a kind of bloc. It's not. There's a lot of people thinking differently from other people in the U.S. This is very interesting to me and very important.

I'm trying to see if I can speak about our society today, but I cannot speak about the theme, because it's a bit difficult. I'm just starting to work on that. Because we live in a kind of world which has drastically changed in the last years. We speak about globalization, and how it's become the reason for everything. It has a kind of deep meaning. To be everywhere and to be nowhere at the same time. You think to globalize, you think, the Earth, it's your country. No, it's not your country. It's not easy to catch it in a cinema. It's too huge.

My life in Greece influenced what I am. My father was in the left because he was against the king and his family, who had created a war against the Turks at the beginning of the last century to revive the Byzantine Empire. For three years, there was fighting, and all my father's friends died. So he hated the royal family.