Close-Up is a very particular film in my oeuvre. It's a film that was made in a very particular way; mainly because I didn't really have the time to think about how to go about making the film.

I've often noticed that we are not able to look at what we have in front of us, unless it's inside a frame.

Religion works on some people but not on everyone, because it says, 'Stop thinking and accept what I tell you.' That's not valid for people who want to think and reflect.

Cinema seats make people lazy. They expect to be given all the information. But for me, question marks are the punctuation of life.

A movie is about human beings, about humanity.

In the total darkness, poetry is still there, and it is there for you.

Film is very much a universal and common voice, and we can't limit it to one particular culture.

Good cinema is what we can believe and bad cinema is what we can't believe. What you see and believe in is very much what I'm interested in.

My way of expression is full of complications and mystery because that's my perception of life.

I would be too selfish if I said everyone should see my movies more than once. To say that would mean I'm just marketing my work!

I spend a lot of time doing carpentry. Sometimes there is nothing that gives me the contentment that sawing a piece of wood does.

I must not imagine what is ‘not’ as a means of escaping what ‘is’. Rather, I must understand what ‘is’ and imagine how I can make it what it is ‘not’.

All stories are love stories.

That's one huge puppy.

Darkness is the womb from which a poet is born.

No one is so accursed by fate No one so utterly desolate But some heart though unknown Responds unto his own.

Tear down the mosque, the temple, everything in sight. But don't break a human heart. For that is where God resides.

The true human being is the meaning of the universe. He is a dancing star. He is the exploding singularity pregnant with infinite possibilities.

It's really important for boys to see that girls take up half of the planet - which we do.

We need a President that all Americans can respect, not a celebrity who uses words like freedom and liberty like they are a punchline in a reality show.

There were butterflies, otherwise, you're not really ready to play. The locker room, I remember, was quiet and we were very focused on playing that game.