Rithy Panh Quotes

Feature filmmaking is a different kind of complication as documentary comes in the editing room.

My background is sociology. Combined with my graphic approach, if I could do some film projects, I think I'd be very good at making documentaries eventually, but people don't think of me for that, of course. But dialogue is something I know I can be good at.

I think the greatest thing about making a documentary is your ability to just follow the story and the subject.

In documentary films, the most difficult thing to achieve is to make something complex appear simple.

So I do tend to do documentaries where I can move in and out of them.

I've learned one general thing in filmmaking: to work with one strong idea. One strong concept that pushes you to work in a certain way artistically.

In the moment of making films, I want to share my observations of life, not of other films.

I love the idea of documentaries. I love seeing documentaries, and I love making them. Documentaries are incredibly easy to shoot. The ease with which you can hear something's going on, somebody's going to be somewhere: That sounds so interesting. Pick up your camera and go.

I started in documentaries, and that was a great help to me with improvisation, because with documentaries, you're handed a big lump of footage, and you have to shape it and make it into a story - which I love doing.

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.

In documentary films, you're a storyteller using found objects. You still have to have a story arc and all the elements that make a good story. It really helped me mature as a storyteller.

I just see myself as a guy who's trying to make a film or, make art.

You should bear in mind that almost all my documentaries are feature films in disguise.

Movies become art after editing. Instead of just reproducing reality, they juxtapose images of it. That implies expression; that's art.

Every frame and every scene has to have an intention.

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

I mean, '8½' to me is such a great dissertation on the whole, you know, act of filmmaking and creativity.

I got into filmmaking in order to tell very personal stories, and in this day and age, the opportunity seems all the more precious.

I don't normally make documentaries. I'm a drama director. I've made a few short docs, but I don't like talking heads or 'voice of God' narrators.

Movies are art and the spirit of the movie depends on the creators.

Doing a documentary is about discovering, being open, learning, and following curiosity.

I didn't realize that, in doing a documentary, there is this process of discovery. It's not like a film or a play with a set script. It sort of reveals itself.

Everything about filmmaking tries to distract you from that first fine rapturous vision you have of the film.

'Rocket Science' is really where I fell in love with filmmaking, I think 'Camp' was incredible, but it was so bizarre, and I was trying to find my footing in this world where you don't have an audience for immediate validation.

We ended up with 19 hours of footage and had to narrow it down to an hour and a half. Our instructions were to film everything that came up, including the more mundane moments.