We have to be that wedge that drives the question and asks the hard questions

We're trying to tell stories. We're a company that's concerned with global change and the effect of global cinema. We're not simply tied to the very limiting framework of U.S. film-making.

Some of these things I saw in foreign films - African films, Cuban films - long before I decided to really go on this course as an actor. I started to think about what values I saw in those films that I wanted to bring to my projects

I have the capacity to express what I feel needs to be expressed. And I try to do what I believe in.

Democracy is about criticism. I didn't elect Obama because he's a black; I voted for Obama because he was the right person at the time. Period. The exceptionalism of a black U.S. President is not important to me. It's what he does. And who he has at the table. And what he does to change the world - that's what's important.

In The Black Power Mixtape , you hear the voice of Angela Davis - not someone playing Angela Davis.

I was involved with the anti-apartheid movement through my work as an artist and also through my political commitment.