Urban Cinema Quotes

I live in New York City, the stories of my films take place in New York; I'm a New York filmmaker.

We need more Rocafellas; we need more Bad Boys.

We've grown up with American movies. Not to say that American movies - or movies that have been based in Watts, Compton, or Inglewood - are a 100% true depiction of that world. But also you have inner-city London, and the foundations are pretty much the same. Especially me, growing up in Southeast London, in Peckham.

There's never really been a real hood Christmas movie.

Hood films now are made by studios and have nothing to do with the reality they supposedly represent.

L.A. films are hard to define compared to New York films because New York films are their own subgenre, in a way. L.A. is more transparent.

I've always wanted to introduce hip-hop filmmaking to film. There's hip-hop art, dance, music, but there really isn't hip-hop film. So I was trying to do that.

We don't consider black, urban films as 'indies,' though many of them are shot for under $10 million which is kind of the definition of an indie.

There are roles for all types of movies. I mean, you still want to watch the urban movies, and they need to be told. You still want to see something you haven't seen before.