Our greatness, our talent has never been the question. It's been a matter of grappling for control over what we do.

I wouldn't be doing motherfu**ing films for almost three decades if every time I did something that someone didn't like I went in a fu**ing cocoon and just hid there and didn't make my art.

I like to work with the same people when I can, and you want to get people with the same interests that you have, and the same aesthetic.

I don't like to use the word 'remake', I think reinterpretation is a better word. It's just a matter of respecting the source, and then trying to make your own film, and trying not to be inhibited by being so beholden to every single thing... We respect the source, but we make changes to it.

I think black people have to be in control of their own image because film is a powerful medium. We can't just sit back and let other people define our existence.

Everything I do is always scrutinised. But that's all I'll say about that.

I used the principles of Kickstarter to make 'She's Gotta Have It.' We filmed that in 1985 to 1986. The final cost was $175,000. I didn't have that money. It was friends, grants, donations. We saved our bottles for the nickel deposit.