In making films, I'm constantly looking for people who are in conflict and who are going to surprise you and challenge you.

If you can laugh with somebody and relate to somebody, it becomes harder to dehumanize them. I think that most of what we are constantly bombarded with in terms of media leads you to a creation of 'the Other' and a dehumanization of 'the Other,' and it's very much an us-versus-them conversation.

It's incredible to see the creativity, beauty and hardships people capture when filmmaking is opened up and shared with the world.

There are these very poor communities on the outskirts of Cairo called Mokattam, where a lot of the garbage collectors live. I used to volunteer there, doing health and education work when I was younger and living in Egypt.

In making films, I'm constantly looking for people who are in conflict and who are going to surprise you and challenge you.

I'm interested in characters that are complex people.

I used to do volunteer work in poor areas of Cairo, and people would gather their money together to get a satellite dish. You'd see them huddling around and for the first time seeing issues being debated on TV that had never been talked about before. And that is the biggest promoter of democracy you could possibly have.