Filmmaking is exploring. Why would I want to make a film about something I already understand?

You can defeat fear through humor, through pain, through honesty, bravery, intuition, and through love in the truest sense.

We only have two hours to change people's lives.

As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all we must dare to fail.

There's a difference between ad-libbing and improvising. And there's a difference between not knowing what to do and just saying something. Or making choices as an actor. As a writer also, as a person who's making a film, as a cameraman, everything is a choice. And it seems to me I don't really have to direct anyone or write down that somebody's getting drunk; all I have to do is say that there's a bottle there and put a bottle there and then they're going to get drunk.

Film is, to me, just unimportant. But people are very important.

To me there is a name for each person. I think it’s marvelous to have a name. A woman is not a woman. It’s either Gena or my mother or some other person.