When I hear the words 'activist filmmaking,' I think of somebody who's an activist, who wants to prove a particular point.

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.

Traveling around the world during the World Cup in 2006, I was thinking, 'Wow, this is such an incredible and global event.'

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

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 have actually been very fortunate to be able to make films on my own credit card without having huge funders behind me dictating how the story should be told.

Being a filmmaker is kind of like being a glorified spy.