Quotes

I wanted to dismantle stereotypes of all kinds. The British can be quite casual with their anti-Americanism without realizing how divided the country is. I was very struck during my last trip to see how much opposition there was to the Patriot Act and to feel the real atmosphere of fear in the air. People said that they were living in an atmosphere where it was increasingly difficult to speak out in opposition to the war.

I've always traveled with the films because I want the audience to be my teacher so that I can learn for the next one. But I have never had the sort of feedback that I've had with Yes. In Turkey, which was the first place where the audience was predominantly Muslim, the fact that there was a sympathetic Middle Eastern man in a main part was a news story, because it was such a rarity. The response there was very much more populist than in America - we were even in the Turkish Hello!

[on the advent of many films exploring young female relationships] The sleeping giant awakes. It's like people are suddenly seeing the power, the interior life that has come out of this great cultural silence. The stories haven't been told, but it's not as if they weren't there to be told.