I try to get closer to reality, to get close to the contradictions. The cinema world can be a real world rather than a dream world.

I think that religion is an integral part of human needs, but the question also is how you understand religion.

On the set I make jokes I can't get too involved, or it turns into sentimental soup. I try to keep it light.

Because I'm the author of my screenplays I know what I'm looking for. It's true that I can be stubborn in demanding that I get what I want, but it's also a question of working with patience and love.

At its best, film should be like a ski jump. It should give the viewer the option of taking flight, while the act of jumping is left up to him.

When making a film, I'm never concerned about whether the theme is new or whether it's been done before in cinema or not. I'm led to make films if there's a theme that interests me or I experience something in my own life that confronts me with something that I want to deal with.

When ideas lead to ideology, that's a very dangerous thing. Ideology then leads to creating the image of an enemy, and it leads to the murder and massacre.