Filmmaking Purpose Quotes

I'm not making films just to be bold.

You don't make a film because the audience is ready for it. You make a film because you have questions that are in your gut.

I don't make movies to make a point; I make movies to tell stories about people.

Some of the downbeat pictures, in my opinion, should never be made at all. Most of them are made for personal satisfaction, to impress other actors who say "Oh, God! what a shot, what camera work!" But the average person in the audience, who bought his ticket to be entertained, doesn't see that at all. He comes out depressed.

Well, yes. I believe that children's souls are the inheritors of historical memory from previous generations. It's just that as they grow older and experience the everyday world that memory sinks lower and lower. I feel I need to make a film that reaches down to that level. If I could do that I would die happy.

When I first set out to make movies, that's what I thought I was going to do - make movies that mean something. And each movie had its own message, some stronger than others. Even 'X-Men' has its own message of tolerance.

I want to make films that are political and social. Films with a message or an idea. Films that dare to ask.

I think my films are always quite self-reflexive and always question 'why am I doing this, is this the right way to do it, what is cinema for, does it have a purpose?'

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

The motivation for making movies is that people actually see them.

As a filmmaker I have changed, yes. I seem to have crossed a line and that journey, trajectory change is more apparent. I'd say, what changed dramatically in me as a filmmaker is the fact that now, it is about why am I making the film, what is this supposed to mean to people. Earlier, it was more about entertaining or engaging them.

When I hear the words 'activist filmmaking,' I think of somebody who's an activist, who wants to prove a particular point.

To me, the only purpose in making films, in my mind, is to talk about something and go to a place that might be difficult but that can make you still think and question.

The fact is I'm not making a film in order to draw pictures or make images about Iran.

I don't want to make a movie till I have an idea I have to make. I don't want to make a movie just to make a movie.

As a filmmaker what you can hope to do is doing what drives you.

If you're going to spend two or three years of your life working on something, you've got to be making the kind of movie that discusses and influences the culture and is engaged in the world you're living in.

Art reflects society. Cinema doesn't dictate - you portray what the society demands.

If you're not doing it for the right reasons, then you'd be dumb to be making documentaries.

As a filmmaker, if your personality is not reflected in your movies, then what are you doing, why are you making films?

My fear is that, as soon as I get married and have kids that I'll kind of do what a lot of people do and suddenly start making, 'Now I'm gonna make films for kids.' I really hope I don't do that.

It's often said that I choose subjects that are sensational! I choose to film subjects that spark difficult conversations and make people uncomfortable. Change only comes about when people are forced to discuss an issue, and that's what I hope my films do.

This politics is bound to be reflected in the work of a serious filmmaker. When I make a film, I try to tell a human story to the best of my ability. I do not set out either to preach messages or purely to entertain.

I think that people who make films and think they're changing the world are sorely mistaken. If that really is your goal, there are far better ways to do it. I'm making politically observant films for audiences.

I'm not making films for middle aged journalists, who are mostly men. I make films that hopefully entertain people, where they can learn something about life.