Whit Stillman Quotes

Cinema is a medium that can translate ideas.

I think that cinema is medium of communication. It's as valid as novels or fine art.

I realized that everything I do is fantasy, whether it is an adult movie or a kids movie.

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.

If you want to keep on being relevant as a director, I think you have to embrace the times. And with the times come technologies and formats.

My style of songwriting is influenced by cinema. I'm a frustrated filmmaker. A fan once said to me, 'Girl, you make me see pictures in my head!' and I took that as a great compliment. That's exactly my intention.

The greatest filmmakers are not the ones who put everything in; they're the ones who can figure things to leave out, and in doing so, invite your participation.

If I go home from a day of shooting, and I haven't at some point felt the magic, I'm really frustrated.

We are filmmakers, and we are specifically trying to entertain people.

Every filmmaker's just going to keep trying to make it the best you can make it: make it as potent and interesting and entertaining and exciting and tough and sexy as you can.

It's incredible to see the creativity, beauty and hardships people capture when filmmaking is opened up and shared with the world.

Don't be too clever for an audience. Make it obvious. Make the subtleties obvious also.

Platforms - they come and go, but storytelling is forever.

I attempt to create a form of seriocomic entertainment to either delight, enlighten, or disgust, whichever you'd like. In terms of making motion pictures, I write and direct and act. I guess you'd say I'm a filmmaker.

If you have something to say, a movie is a really great medium to say it. It doesn't matter what the message is.

I can't be part of what is being done in films these days and hence I don't do films anymore.

You're only making movies for two reasons: Because you have something to say or because you want to entertain people.

I want people to see my movies.

I love cinema and creating new things, but essentially, I am creating all this because I want people to see it.

Everyone knows that a movie is false. But if as filmmakers we give the audience too many reasons to lose the suspension of disbelief, I believe we're working our way down a hole.

Be it web series, short films, reality shows, what drives and keeps me in the groove is my work.

A documentary film-maker can't help but use poetry to tell the story. I bring truth to my fiction. These things go hand in hand.

I'm not the greatest reader. I feel like I have a bit of dyslexia or something, and that's probably why I became a filmmaker. I have the need to communicate, the need to tell stories; and the need to understand stories led me to movies.

With a movie, you have the power of putting out an idea about the world and for people to take it seriously.

I'm a filmmaker, I'm a storyteller, an entertainer, if you will, so what can I do to participate? Well, I'm not a scientist; I'm not an expert on environmental law; I'm a guy that can tell stories. So I always look for a way to communicate ideas and help to spread excitement for change.