Success is really when you create a space, a piece of art, and people come in and say, that's my story - when they claim it.

You have to be willing to put everything you've got towards the project. That to me is very important. And it may not be part of the fad, being the clichéd kind of film that's going to be successful.

The true story is that black people need to tell their history. Very few films are made by black people about slavery. That itself is a crime because slavery is a very important historical event that has held our people hostage. Forget white people's role in it. In the end what's important is black people remain and live with the scars and psychological issues.

When the system does not recognize me I'm not devastated.

When you don't work together you can't emerge as a force. It becomes what some call a "lonely struggle" and individual self-destruction.

Most young people now are very vulnerable as to what the American film aficionados are going to say. They care too much about a system that has no room for them. It's really a serious issue for me, because to me it's, how do I survive beyond a film that was disgraced or praised?

If you never did anything for your own freedom, you're not worth a human being in my view.