Agnes Varda Quotes

If you decide to direct a film, it's because you have something to say, something to show to the audience.

I didn't have any set idea of what kind of filmmaker I wanted to be. I knew I wanted to tell stories that meant something to me, but I never said I was going to be the weird, avant-garde guy.

I think of filmmaking as a form of communication. Maybe it's also an art, but that's for somebody else to decide.

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

I always try to make films in such a way that it's hard to imagine how they came to be, or where they came from.

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

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

You should be able to do you. That's what differentiates an artist from a singer.

As a filmmaker, I really want to utilize the tools to carry the voice - my voice, and the voice of the characters.

I just want to make films that are personal, but interesting to an audience.

When I made my first film, I think the thing was probably helped me the most was that it was such an unusual thing to do in the early 50s for someone who actually go and make a film. People thought it was impossible. It really is terribly easy. All anybody needs is a camera, a tape recorder, and some imagination.

You have to remain strong. That's the kind of filmmaker I want to encourage. Orson Welles was the one who said, you know, you can learn anything you need to know about filmmaking- that's camera, sound, celluloid, video at this point- in four hours. It has nothing to do with anything. It has nothing to do with it... It has to do with what you want to say. If you feel you have something to say, you'll find that way to get it said, on film, and not let anyone or anything chip away at that or tarnish it, because it's something special and precious.

One of the wonderful things about making a film of any genre is that you have dialogue. You can take up a position. If you want to say something about your position, you can just say it. You don't have to spend massive amounts of screen time.

One of the reasons I love making movies is because it's an opportunity to share with the world a different way of being or a different way of living or seeing the world. If it's something you've already seen before, if I have too many reference points for it, then it's not exciting for me to make.

I love writing, but I stopped because I felt I was more effective approaching filmmaking from a different vantage point.

It takes great skill to tell a compelling story in under 60 seconds. These five directors have mastered the format, using their talent, craft and imagination to provide us with some of the most innovative filmmaking out there today.

I feel like the point of being an artist is to have your own voice: to do it the way you would do it and not the way anyone else would do it. If you're a strong enough writer, then that voice is going to come out all the time, and I can't stop it from coming out, no matter what I do.

I think I'm needed - as an artist, as an individual, as an entity, an enigma, an exhibitionist, an entertainer - as an alternative.

Film is just a great medium to express yourself and a great environment to work around.

I like making movies for myself and my friends and people with my sensibility.

I love being a writer-director. I couldn't imagine directing without writing it. You have to write and tell your stories - that's what directing is to me.

I never tried to revolutionise photography; I just do what I do and keep my fingers crossed that people will like it.

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.

My films are an extension of my poetry, using the white screen like the white page to be filled with images.

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