Europeans used to be proud to be the advanced form of democracy. Now they're definitely a little bit ashamed because we are seeing that finally, the bond that we had, it was money.

Europeans used to be proud to be the advanced form of democracy. Now they're definitely a little bit ashamed because we are seeing that finally, the bond that we had, it was money.

It's true that mostly in the last years, from the moment when Portugal was subjected to this policy of austerity, imposed by Europe, that I think many Portuguese became a little bit more left-leaning, and so did I too, I could not not care about the situation. I had to deal with it in some way.

In general I'm more attached to a cinema that tries not to replicate the real world and life.

I think that I prefer to shoot characters even if they are not good people. I don't think that cinema is a place where you can do sentences like in a court.

I have the opportunity to make my films and I think that's a luxury. I don't have any problems by filming things that can have a connection with left-wing policy, even if we have a right-wing government. There are some countries which cannot say the same, so I'm lucky.

I think that there's a very lucid side in cinema: entering a theater and seeing the film.