I don't like to read novels where the novelist tells me what to think about the situation and the characters. I prefer to discover for myself.

There's a literal track: who says what to whom, what are people wearing, etcetera. And there's the abstract track: what ideas are suggested by the literal. And the real movie takes place in the relationship between the literal and the abstract.

It is always a problem to know what an image means.

Making movies is an effort is an attempt to leave a trace of your existence.

This whole business of documentary being a second-class citizen is bullshit. A documentary can be as interesting, as dramatic, as sad, as funny, blah, blah, blah, as a fiction movie. Or it can be as awful as a fiction movie!

I'm drawn to making movies about contemporary life. The reason I choose institutions is because they provide a limit, a boundary.

You have to edit the material. That assumes that some kind of a mind is operating in relation to the material. Not all minds are the same. Every aspect of filmmaking requires choice. The selection of the subject, the shooting, editing and length are all aspects of choice.