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

I've discovered I can't make a film about people I dislike.

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.

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.

Al Jazeera is demonized by the United States, yet in Egypt my father would be watching it.

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.