Nicholas Ray

“You like these films, but you can't imagine how often they represent only fifty percent of what I wanted to do. You have no idea how I had to fight to achieve even that fifty percent.”

Vincente Minnelli

“I allow an area for improvisation because the chemical things actors bring to stories make it not work. ”

John Carpenter

“In France, I'm an auteur; in Germany, a filmmaker; in Britain, a genre film director; and, in the USA, a bum.”

Léos Carax

“I perceive 'Pierre' (Pola X) in the same way that I perceive my own life: I understand both 'poorly' but I’m obliged to explore them. That’s what a project is: a heavy question mark. You’re the dot under that mark and you mustn’t let it crush you.”

Frank Tashlin

“I got into a fight with Walt Disney: I always pick the wrong people to fight with.”

Walter Hill

“Every film I've done has been a Western. The Western is ultimately a stripped down moral universe that is, whatever the dramatic problems are, beyond the normal avenues of social control and social alleviation of the problem, and I like to do that even within contemporary stories.”

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.”

Aki Kaurismäki

“Cinema is dead. It died 1962, I think it was in October!”

Edward Yang

“I was the leader of the Taiwanese new wave. All these guys would just gather in my house, talking and laughing and drinking: Hou Hsiao-hsien, Wu Nien-jen — just about all of them. You could just push open the door. Everyone just wanted to do similar things. We weren’t allowed to, and no one was willing to give us any money to, but we shared all these idealistic thoughts.”

Thom Andersen

Luc Moullet

“Normal people are often a little crazy.”

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.”

Jerry Lewis

“I’m a multi-faceted, talented, wealthy, internationally famous genius. I have an IQ of 190 — that’s supposed to be a genius. People don’t like that. My answer to all my critics is simple: I like me. I like what I’ve become. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved, and I don’t really believe I’ve scratched the surface yet.”

Lee Chang-dong

“There’s no question that ‘Green Fish’ and ‘Peppermint Candy’ draw on the political and economic problems of Korea. But they weren’t my main focus. My main interest has always been human beings. I believe film is the best medium to show something about human beings.”

Hong Sang-soo

“When I finish a film, I feel like I have overcome a certain hurdle. It's really good for me as a human being, and I hope that for some people, my films will do the same thing.”

Norman McLaren

“For myself, indeed, with an abstract film, the most pleasing forms are those which come closest to music. There must be visual equivalence.”

Tex Avery

“Let’s make some funny pictures.”

Chuck Jones

[On one of his most famous characters] "The coyote is victimized by his own ineptitude. I never understood how to use tools and that's really the coyote's problem."

Jacques Tati

“Like a dancer learns to dance ... a visual comic learns to use his legs.”

Elaine May

“The only thing experience teaches you is what you can't do. When you start, you think you can do anything. And then you start to get a little tired.”