John Cassavetes

“The most difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to express what you have to. As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all we must dare to fail. You must be willing to risk everything to really express it all.”

Whit Stillman

“For me, the present is a golden era that’s ending too. That’s the greatest golden era. Right now. [Laughs.] I just like pining for lost times. I can pine for this morning.”

Juraj Jakubisko

“The visual aspect of my films is very important and in three feature films I did the photography myself, and I'm not even talking about the documentary films that I made. I must admit I never wanted to be a director.”

Pen-ek Ratanaruang

“In Last Life In The Universe we wanted the audience not to notice when the music comes in or when it goes out. It's there to create atmosphere. I'm drawn to any style of music as long as it's sad. I'm very fond of depressing music. I think it's beautiful.”

Asghar Farhadi

Jean-Luc Godard

“A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end... but not necessarily in that order. ”

Hal Hartley

“Despite the fact that I love story, character and dialogue, when I isolate the primary elements of film I find photography, movement and sound recording — in that order. Only then do I consider dramatic action. Film is essentially graphic for me.”

Mohsen Makhmalbaf

“From my films, you can at least learn about Iran, you can get a sense of the history and the society. But no such films have been made about Afghanistan, so you really can't know much about it.”

Jafar Panahi

“In a world where films are made with millions of dollars, we made a film about a little girl who wants to buy a fish for less than a dollar.”

Andrew Bujalski

“When you have to live with something for so many years, the film becomes indistinguishable from what you think of as your life. I’m sure there’s a danger to that. But there are also great things that can come from that.”

Aaron Katz

Harmony Korine

“When I was a child the temptation to sin was always a romantic option. This romantic option lead me to the cinema, a place where sin was welcome.”