I mean, making a film is so scary and there’s such a kind of void that you’re working from initially. I mean, you can have all the ideas and be as prepared as possible, but you’re also still bringing people together and saying, “Trust me”, even when you don’t necessarily trust every element. You’re making something out of nothing and it requires so many people’s collaborative efforts and participation that it seems like at any moment it could just fall through the cracks and be gone forever. – Todd Haynes.
People often criticize my films for being pessimistic; there are certainly many reasons for being pessimistic but I don’t see my films that way. They’re founded in the belief that revolution doesn’t belong on the cinema screen but outside in the world. Never mind if a film ends pessimistically but exposes certain mechanisms clearly enough to show people how they work and the ultimate effect is not pessimistic. My goal is to reveal such mechanisms in a way that makes people realize the necessity of changing their own reality. – Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Mark [Duplass, Jay’s brother and filmmaking partner] and I feel very strongly that the most important thing an aspiring filmmaker should do is to make lots of films and to make them as cheaply as possible. The technology permits us now to make a feature film for a few thousand dollars, affording us the opportunity to mess up, recover and try again. But there is still a mythology that a kid wakes up one morning, makes a film and it’s either good or bad—thus divining whether one has talent or not. That’s bullshit. We (and everyone else we know who’s working in the industry today) made a lot of bad films before we figured out what we uniquely have to offer the world. – Jay Duplass
Why films? Because I am totally crazy. I can’t live without making films. I look at the struggle and misery of contemporary life. And try to say something to the best of my ability. – Ritwik Ghatak.
[Cinema] is an attempt to rebuild our imperfect memories. – Philippe Garrel.
I couldn’t make movies like this if I started to worry about what Jerry Falwell is going to have to say about it. – Gregg Araki.
I studied economics, it was completely suicidal. Everything pissed me off. – Claire Denis.
It’s good to leave a margin of the undefined. – Harmony Korine.
[It’s been eight years since ‘Les Amants du Pont-Neuf.’ Where did you go?] To hell. – Leos Carax.
