Christmas lights may be the loneliest thing for me, especially if you mix them up with reindeers and sleighs. I feel alone. I feel isolated. I feel I do not belong.

We all know the power of film; we all know there's almost nothing more powerful than to see people on film that look and talk like you, like we do.

I often begin movies with music in my head; it's a very important dimension to me. Not just the music itself, but how to use music in film: when and how and subtlety. I don't like to be too sweet in my stories, and I like the abrasive clang, the contrasting of sounds and cultures.

You know, the sad thing of post-9/11, which was of course horrific, was that the city in which I felt completely at home for two decades, suddenly people like us - brown people - were looked at as the 'Others.'

Never treat anything you do as a stepping stone. Do it fully, and follow it completely.

Every frame and every scene has to have an intention.

Humility is not a trait I often associate with America.