Tanya Saracho Quotes

You really have to soak up the culture of the people to get it right. If you're making a fiction film, it's entertainment, but you want it to be as real as possible.

I feel like progress will be made in the landscape of Latino influence when we get to tell those murky, real, close-to-life narratives.

I think that any story that intends on being culturally authentic and true to life experiences will be a great story. Even if that culture isn't a hip-hop-centric one.

You can usually tell when people aren't being authentic, but that goes for every artist, not just white artists.

Writers can write outside their ethnicity or sex depending how open and vulnerable they wish to be.

I've been blessed because every single role I've done has been an educated person. I've never done the stereotypical Latina, even though I have an accent - I've always been able to play educated people. That's a good thing!

I take the responsibility of playing another ethnicity very, very seriously, and I promise myself and those people that I will represent them with as much dignity and integrity as I can muster.

It's so exciting to headline a film. It's not every day you see a Latina carrying a full-length feature.

I sense a kind of fear of writing black or Asian characters from non-ethnic writers, who perhaps feel that they don't know the culture and therefore can't write about it. By and large, if there's an Asian character, I might get a call. But if the character is called 'Philip,' the chances are I won't.

Two words guided the making of 'Babel' for me: 'dignity' and 'compassion.' These things are normally forgotten in the making of a lot of films. Normally there is not dignity because the poor and dispossessed in a place like Morocco are portrayed as mere victims, or the Japanese are portrayed as cartoon figures with no humanity.

Casting ethnic characters is a very hard thing to do, but it's important. It's also interesting.

It's a different thing shooting for 10 weeks in India as opposed to on a set on stage pretending you're in India.

I write for the people I grew up with. I took extreme pains for my book to not be a native informant. Not: 'This is Dominican food. This is a Spanish word.' I trust my readers, even non-Spanish ones.

Too much of Indian writing in English, it seemed to me, consisted of middle-class people writing about other middle-class people - and a small slice of life being passed off as an authentic portrait of the country.

Super polished signage is not always a good sign. I'm always looking for places that you have to know about to find. Also, just food-wise, if I'm eating ethnic cuisine - I hate that phrase, but still - If I'm eating Mexican food, I'm looking to see that there are Mexicans in the restaurant. They know if the food is being made right.

My career means, if you're a non-Indian writing about Indians, at least there's one Indian in your rearview mirror.

Anytime you're writing stories about a group of people with whom you have limited experience, there's a lot of guesswork.

The thing a writer has to avoid is being the 'voice' of his people and pretending he can speak for them.

The audience will show up if you have authenticity. Like 'Moonlight,' there was stuff in there that is so specific to that community where the filmmakers grew up. Even if I don't understand everything they're talking about, I will love it if I feel that it's real.

If you're going to write, then write a novel with a Haitian woman in it and try and describe her accurately. When you can do that, you can write about people.

I want authenticity. And rarely do actors - more specifically, black actors - get a chance to be authentic on film and television.

I've always wanted to do an Indian film, but I didn't want to come to India and pretend that I could play an average Bombay girl.

I feel respect is in your hands as an actor when portraying a character, particularly when it's from the Indian subcontinent. I do make a conscious effort to do so and often talk to the directors especially about the heavy accent when it's not needed.

I think only a real Indian can defeat a fake Indian.

All films are a challenge and they are a harder challenge when dealing with characters of color.