“I started out as a ‘program picture’ director, and program pictures are strictly entertainment. Therefore, the scripts I received from the studio weren’t artistic to begin with. So there was no hope of making an artistic film from the script. The only thing that I could hope to do was to make movies fun and entertaining. The critics say films have to have social commentary or a humanitarian point of view and that is that. But what I was aiming for was how to make a movie entertaining. So I tried a lot of different ideas and styles to accomplish that.”

Seijun Suzuki
Born May 24, 1923

“Good films aren’t made by conscious deliberation but rather by an inner passion.”
– Kenji Mizoguchi ( May 16, 1898 – August 24, 1956 )

“I must confess that I felt I was only the colors with which Ozu painted his pictures, yet today I cannot think of my own identity without thinking of him. I once heard Ozu say, ‘Ryu is not a skillful actor—that is why I use him.’ This is very true.”

Chishu Ryu
May 13, 1904 — March 16, 1993

“Rossellini stands out from the rest of the so-called neorealists for his eye, his intervention as a strong and compassionate witness who knew how to photograph the air around things, and for his disregard of cinema as a spectacle. I took part as a spectator in Paisan and Rome, Open City and I may have learnt my way of approaching cinema from Rossellini, who worked in the most incredible confusion: expiring bills, romantic complications, conflicts, the war. I remember in Naples, during the shooting of Paisan, in the middle of the street, with the allies’ tanks parading behind our backs, and there he was, with his beret and the megaphone: the casualness of a god who’s creating an earthquake only to be able to photograph it. This is the true lesson that neorealism taught me.” — Federico Fellini

“Orson Welles is a kind of giant with the look of a child, a tree filled with birds and shadow, a dog that has broken its chain and lies down in the flower beds, an active idler, a wise madman, an island surrounded by people, a pupil asleep in class, a strategist who pretends to be drunk when he wants to be left in peace. He knows better than anyone how to use the apparent nonchalance of true strength to give an impression of drifting, and advances with a half-open eye. The derelict manner he sometimes affects, like some dozing bear, shields him from the cold, restless whirl of the film world. A method that made him pack his bags, leave Hollywood and allow himself to be drawn toward other company and other prospects.” — Jean Cocteau

“Somehow I feel that an ordinary person—the man in the street if you like—is a more challenging subject for exploration than people in the heroic mold. It is the half shades, the hardly audible notes that I want to capture and explore. […] My films are about human beings, human relationships, and social problems. I think it is possible for everyone to relate to these issues. On a certain level, foreign audiences can appreciate Indian works, but many details are missed. For example, when they see a woman with a red spot on her forehead, they don’t know that this is a sign showing that she is married, or that a woman dressed in a white sari is a widow. Indian audiences understand this at once; it is self-evident for them. So, on certain level, the cultural gap is too wide. But on a psychological level, on the level of social relations, it is possible to relate. I think I have been able to cross the barrier between cultures. My films are made for an Indian audience, but I think they have bridged the gap.”

Satyajit Ray
May 2, 1921 — April 23, 1992

“I think our purpose as filmmakers or as storytellers or whatever you’re going to call us is to say that at this particular point with this relationship, with this social structure, in this political climate, this is the best film I could do. I think that’s all we can do. Then we’re not exploitative, we’re not the Spielbergs or the whatever. Then it becomes extremely personal, for better or worse. So don’t get confused by digital or non-digital or money or not—just do the best fucking film you can with your abilities at that time. I mean, why else do we make films when we could have gone into real estate?”

Christopher Doyle
Born May 2, 1952

“All filmmakers are searching for Cinema and discover it partially. Vigo is Cinema incarnate in one man.” — Henri Langlois on Jean Vigo

“I suppose I am interested in the variety of human life—how people live. I am most interested in individuals and how they respond to challenges or to difficulties, or just to each other. I am curious about people. So that’s why I do a lot of different things. The cinema should be human and be part of people’s lives; it should focus on ordinary existences in sometimes extraordinary situations and places. That is what really motivates me.”

Claire Denis
Born April 21, 1948

“I never thought of the Tramp in terms of appeal. He was myself, a comic spirit, something within me that said I must express this. I felt so free. The adventure of it. The madness. I can do any mad, crazy thing I like. And then?—did it come off, this insane idea I had, did it come off? That was the thrill.”

Charles Chaplin
April 16, 1889 — December 25, 1977