When you make a documentary film, after many years the only thing you remember is what you put into the film, not what you took out.

Celebrate your victories and mark your defeats. Ultimately documentary filmmaking is not a job, it's a calling.

When you make a documentary film, after many years the only thing you remember is what you put into the film, not what you took out.

If you make a great film full of emotion, of pathos, people want to continue to know more, to work harder.

I truly value the cinema experience, the tribal gathering in the dark to watch something larger than life. I like to sit in the first row with no heads in front of mine, and become one with the screen. I always stay for the complete credits so I can linger in the film's story just a little longer.

The biggest misconception about me and my work is that I only make political films denouncing human-rights atrocities, even though all of my films are about people fighting for their rights and their quest for justice. My films aren't depressing, are very human, and always offer a way forward.

Everyone has access to a pen and paper, but to be a great writer is difficult.