Atom Egoyan Quotes

I'm not making films just to be bold.

The more I make films, the more I feel less inclined to talk about them and just let people watch them. I feel that the pictures are telling the story, and I can't really add anything except just talking about the technicalities of what happened on the day.

My stated goal as a filmmaker is to feel something. Is to have a palpable emotion in my life, carry it through the gauntlet of the filmmaking process and try and have it land for an audience at some point during the viewing experience. That to me is successful filmmaking.

I didn't get into film to win Academy Awards. I wanted to have a conversation with the audience.

For so many filmmakers, cinema is a means to an end.

I don't make movies because I think audiences will want to go see them.

I don't want to make a film to make a film.

I strive to make movies I would enjoy.

Look, I'm just a storyteller. When I make a film, I never want the film to become a vehicle of social propaganda.

A short film is just another storytelling medium like TV, Features, and Webisodes. I am just thrilled that 'Silent Cargo' is getting out there for people to see.

I just make films that attract me.

No matter how big or new they are, I always look for the intention of the filmmaker first. Their intention has to be in the right place.

When I make a film, the yardstick is my mind. If I laugh at the jokes and feel sad at the serious undersides, then the subject works.

I understand the angst of a filmmaker.

You can't make a film for your personal satisfaction. That is why I detest the cinema of people like Mani Kaul.

I'm always making movies for my audiences, but I'm not trying to meet their expectations.

When you're making a movie, you can't think anybody will ever see it. You've just got to make a movie for the values it has. The greatest films were made because someone really wanted to make them. And, hopefully, the audience will show up, too.

Filmmaking, like any other art, is a very profound means of human communication; beyond the professional pleasure of succeeding or the pain of failing, you do want your film to be seen, to communicate itself to other people.

Film is a very intimate medium.

And over the course of the last six years, as I've directed more features and commercials, I've become better at articulating exactly how I want the audience to feel.

I don't intentionally make my films with the express goal of surprising the viewer.

Film is the only language I speak, and I have been lucky to be involved in some great stories. You don't want to preach to people, but you want them to think about why things are the way they are, the history that is there as well as the possibilities.

I found it very difficult to explain to someone why you did a film. It's not like having a conversation.

You have to make films you feel strongly about. And then hope you can find the audience.

All movies are pure process. A commercial movie isn't less process than an art movie. You can't make your decisions about a film on the basis of, 'Is it important enough? Is it serious enough?' It's either alive or it's not for me. If it's alive, I want to do it.