PATRICIA RIGGEN

It never crossed my mind to be a director, and I'll tell you why: because I'm a woman. It just didn't occur to me, but I knew I had to be in film.

Americans are more likely to watch a film in their own language. For the rest of the world, it doesn't matter so much.

Chile's mines are very dangerous; the country has a lot of earthquakes.

I am grateful that I'm working, but I also have to say I've worked really, really hard and had to fight a lot.

I have a handicap in that English is not my first language. So even though I'm a writer, I don't write anymore because it's just harder in English.

I have worked steadily since I started, but things are very hard for women and need to change.

I love getting people's opinion of what I'm doing.

I love the Kathryn Bigelow example: she didn't just do war movies - she did them better than other directors.

I went to New York City to Columbia University, and with the first directing exercise, I knew I was a director.

I wish I had seen some women directing before - that would have given me the idea of who I was.

I've always seen movies in English with Spanish subtitles. For audiences around the world, the language is less important than if it's a good film.

If your film is in English, it makes it that much easier to get a wide release.

It's a very tricky relationship, the cinematographer and the director as a woman.

There are a lot of female directors in documentary, very talented. But it's always lower budget.

To get a movie star, you have to give them two hours of screen time.

Directors only have instinct to work out of, because there is no formula. Formulas don't work. Actually, if you follow a formula, you will probably end up with a bad movie.

Every single line, every single thing has to be fought over. There's kind of like an intrinsic doubt from absolutely everyone in my crew, my producer, everyone. It's not just the film industry - it's a worldwide thing. It's the culture of the world to doubt women.

I am tired of having to prove myself constantly, even after being hired. Every single day, every single idea, I need to prove myself. I am tired of it!

I do find that it's easier to get Latino-themed movies... but I don't think there's that stigma anymore. I think that what's harder is to be a woman, not to be a Latina.

I finally, you know, moved to Mexico City, where the film industry is. I started working there as a producer, which is a very, very valid thing for women to do, because we always produce for men, right?

I have years of saying ideas that are not listened to. Then, weeks after, of producers finding out that I was right when some other guy comes in and says it. Sometimes I just tell my idea to my editor or to some other guy with maybe gray hair to share it, and then it's brilliant!

I like making movies that people feel inspired by, a film that they will think about a few days after seeing it, and not entertainment that is completely forgettable the moment you walk out of the theater.

I think the three Mexican directors - Alejandro Inarritu, Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro - gave all of us foreign, and particularly Latino, directors a big break.

I think the three Mexican directors that came before me did a very good job in Hollywood because they came in and started directing things like 'Harry Potter.'

The idea that women compete or don't like each other or undermine each other or sabotage each other, that's a big miss. That is not true at all. At all. My women connect with each other instantly and help each other.