Of course I'd like to get beyond the concrete. But it's really difficult. Very difficult.

I have no problem being with people of different nationalities.

Someone knocks at the door of an apartment to borrow salt or sugar, people run into each other in the elevator, and in this way become inscribed in the spectator's memory.

We're always looking at this love through the eyes of the person who is suffering because of this love.

To tell you the truth, in my work, love is always in opposition to the elements. It creates dilemmas. It brings in suffering. We can't live with it, and we can't live without it. You'll rarely find a happy ending in my work.

The television industry doesn't like to see the compexity of the world. It prefers simple reporting, with simple ideas: this is white, that's black; this is good, that's bad.

Of course I'd like to get beyond the concrete. But it's really difficult. Very difficult.

Maybe it is worth investigating the unknown, if only because the very feeling of not knowing is a painful one.

In real life, there are names that surprise us because they don't seem to suit the person at all.

For me optimism is two lovers walking into the sunset arm in arm. Or maybe into the sunrise - whatever appeals to you.

There are mysteries, secret zones in each individual.

In believing too much in rationality, our contemporaries have lost something.

Do people really want liberty, equality, fraternity? Is it not some manner of speaking?

Different people in different parts of the world can be thinking the same thoughts at the same time. It's an obsession of mine: that different people in different places are thinking the same thing but for different reasons. I try to make films which connect people.

Documentaries deal with people who live real, everyday lives. But if these people trusted us and told us the truth about their lives, it could be used against them - which sometimes happened.

I believe the life of every person is worthy of scrutiny, containing its own secrets and dramas.

I have one good characteristic: I'm a pessimist, so I always imagine the worst - always. To me, the future is a black hole.

I like chance meetings - life is full of them. Every day, without realising it, I pass people whom I should know.

I really don't know anything about music, and it's no great experience for me. But I do think that music has a purifying element.

I was happy when I got into film school. I'd simply satisfied my ambition to show them that I could get in - nothing else - although I do believe they shouldn't have accepted me. I was a complete idiot. I can't understand why they took me. Probably because I'd tried three times.

If I have a goal, then it is to escape from this literalism. I'll never achieve it; in the same way that I'll never manage to describe what really dwells within my character, although I keep on trying.

In believing too much in rationality our contemporaries have lost something.

The realm of superstitions, fortune-telling, presentiments, intuition, dreams, all this is the inner life of a human being, and all this is the hardest thing to film.

I don't really know the story of the Pied Piper. I don't read stories, first of all. I just remember either a rabbit or a rat leading people out of the village with a flute. That's all I can tell you.

The destructiveness of the tar sands is not inevitable. But Canadians and Albertans have become too tolerant of the politicians who compromise the nation's energy security as well as the next generation's future.

I have to have a cheat day. I know when I'm being good all week long that come Sunday, I'm going to lie by the pool, have a drink, and eat some pizza.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

When I'm home, I spend Sunday with my husband. If we're not cooking, we travel around in our camper, stop at fast-food restaurants, and picnic. We love that stuff that will harden your arteries in a hurry.

Evil counsel travels fast.

I'm not a fan of that sort of punky, heavy, tinny stuff. I like a nice melody.

Sometimes you're looking to play perfect tennis but it's not going to happen all the time and you have to accept it.

I have never, ever talked about my orientation or sexuality because whether I am heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, it is my concern. I refuse to talk about it... I have not been brought up to talk about my sex life.

Some people try to be tall by cutting off the heads of others.

Don't be intimidated by other people's opinions. Only mediocrity is sure of itself, so take risks and do what you really want to do.

Man endures pain as an undeserved punishment; woman accepts it as a natural heritage.

History creates comprehensibility primarily by arranging facts meaningfully and only in a very limited sense by establishing strict causal connections.

I was brought up in a house full of women; the first time I realised no one was interrupting me was when I was on stage - that's probably the subconscious reason I became an actor.

If I had a time machine I would go back 30 years and show up at my grandmother's apartment before the gargantuan meals she would serve and I would help her.

We're trying to be very careful and precise in our use of language, because I think the language we use and the images we project really do have resonance. It's the reason why I don't use the term jihadist to refer to terrorists. It gives them the religious legitimacy they so desperately seek, but I ain't gonna give it to them.

Your mind is a key, and whatever it unlocks, the greatest treasure of all.

The most important aspect of any story, to me, is character.

Beauty should not be culturally relevant; it should be universal.

I should be, right now, a normal 17-year-old sitting in class in high school. Instead, I'm recording, and it's so exciting for me. I can't imagine anything I'd rather be doing right now.

I always feel that whatever isn't necessary shouldn't be in a poem.

If your car could travel at the speed of light would your headlights work

I would never live in anything I design. Life and art are different. My life is very precious to me - my art is precious to me. I love designing things for other people, but I don't like designing things for myself.

I think the point about ActionAid is what it's asking people to do is engage with poor people in developing countries and understand what their lives are like and understand how the way we live our lives impacts on theirs.