John Lasseter

“From the beginning, I kept saying it’s not the technology that’s going to entertain audiences, it’s the story. The computer is a tool, and it’s in the service of the story.”

Brad Bird

“We make films that we ourselves would want to see and then hope that other people would want to see it. If you try to analyze audiences or think there's some sophisticated recipe for success, then I think you are doomed. You're making it too complicated.”

Hiroshi Teshigahara

Shôhei Imamura

“I show true things using fictional techniques but maintaining truthfulness — that's where my approach differs from Ozu. He wanted to make film more aesthetic. I want to make it more real. He aspired toward a cinematic nirvana. When I was his assistant, I was very opposed to him, but now, whilst still not liking his films, I'm much more tolerant. As for me, I'd like to destroy this premise that cinema is fiction.”

Jack Cardiff

“I was not a technical person - I was never a technical person. I have always liked the more artistic side of things and I did get a lot of inspiration and knowledge from studying painting - that was very important.”

David Mamet

“A good film script should be able to do completely without dialogue. ”

Isao Takahata

I liked Takahata’s very much, because every one of his films surprises me, I think he has lots of cheek. He is always low profile, but he is very daring. Changing the kind of story every time, changing style, message... (Michel Ocelot, Director)

Terrence Malick

“[On Badlands (1973)] I tried to keep the 1950s to a bare minimum. Nostalgia is a powerful feeling; it can drown out anything. I wanted the picture to set up like a fairy tale, outside time, like Treasure Island. I hoped this would, among other things, take a little of the sharpness out of the violence, but still keep its dreamy quality.”

Nick Park

“Gromit was the name of a cat. When I started modeling the cat I just didn`t feel it was quite right, so I made it into a dog because he could have a bigger nose and bigger, longer legs.”

Jules Dassin

“If there is anything I want to be remembered for, it is for fulfilling Melina's dream [the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece].”

Grigori Kozintsev

Brian De Palma

“So I like to try to go back and develop pure visual storytelling. Because to me, it's one of the most exciting aspects of making movies and almost a lost art at this point. ”

Hayao Miyazaki

“Modern life is so thin and shallow and fake. I look forward to when developers go bankrupt, Japan gets poorer and wild grasses take over.”

Michel Ocelot

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

“I am never quite sure whether I am one of the cinema's elder statesman or just the oldest whore on the beat.”

Jean-Pierre Melville

“I believe that you must be madly in love with cinema to create films. You also need a huge cinematic baggage.”

Michael Cimino

“I don't make movies intellectually. I don't make movies to make a point. I make movies to tell stories about people.”

Fabián Bielinsky

Emir Kusturica

“What you have now is a Hollywood that is pure poison. Hollywood was a central place in the history of art in the 20th century: it was human idealism preserved. And then, like any great place, it collapsed, and it collapsed into the most awful machinery in…”

Jan Švankmajer

“I never call myself an animated filmmaker because I am interested not in animation techniques or creating a complete illusion, but in bringing life to everyday objects.”