I really believe that the past is beyond our grasp and what is essential about the past is something unspeakable.
Joshua OppenheimerI need to trust myself and go where my instincts tell me, and to be as wild and free as possible in my creative decisions.
Joshua OppenheimerThere's a tradition of reenactment in documentary which is about sort of illustrating what the past might have been like.
Joshua OppenheimerDirect cinema is about simulating a reality in which you're not having the overwhelming influence that you really are having.
Joshua OppenheimerI'm trying to understand how do we tell lies to ourselves to justify what we've done and what are the consequences of those lies? But actually maybe I also recognize that in turning empathy into a practice for many years, by turning, by forcing myself to separate at some level the humanity of a human being from his or her actions and recognizing that sometimes, even the moral aspects of a human being can contribute to immoral behavior.
Joshua Oppenheimer