I wasn't a film buff.

Uncertainty helps keep actors on edge.

I don't make long-term plans, for sure.

I will not become analytical about my work.

It's weird to try and identify a nationality for a film.

In general, I like contradictions and complex situations.

I'm interested in many different things. I guess I just want to evolve.

Something that's a hilarious comedy, for someone else might be a drama.

Don't think too hard. Just be present, and things will reveal themselves.

If you use music boldly at the front of a scene, it creates another level.

I learned about making films by going into advertising, making commercials.

I think human relationships - the whole thing is cruel. It's very difficult.

Having rules means that sometimes people break them, and that means punishment.

As long as I can make the films I want to make in decent conditions, I am happy.

I think you can tell a lot about people if you observe them as they're observing.

Of course I know what works for me and what kind of tone I want my films to have.

The best way to watch a film is to not know anything about the person who made it.

It's hard for me to consider something in cinema or theater as something realistic.

Anytime people see an emotion that is not extremely emotional, they call it 'deadpan.'

I always expect people to be torn when they see one of my films and divided in some way.

I make films to explore concepts and raise questions, not tell the audience what to think.

It was always hard to make films in Greece, but making them with friends made it possible.

I made three films in Greece, and they're made under very specific, very limited conditions.

In film, I like transformation. That goes for the language, for the image, for the performance.

I find it very interesting to keep people uncertain about what is what and figure it out as they go.

People influence each other, so one screening will be filled with laughs while another is dead silent.

I work very physically. I don't like to intellectualize too much about what we're doing, or analyze it.

If actors are trying to convey, in a smart way, the context of the scene, that becomes too self-conscious.

I never thought that I would ever actually get to make films. Being from Greece, it wasn't really a reality.

I enjoy sometimes focusing on a character in a scene that's not actually doing the main action or the talking.

Telling a story is the way of exploring so many different things - human behavior, society, whatever existence.

For me, casting is very instinctive, and if I don't feel good about it, I just can't go ahead and make the film.

I just try and decide what I'm interested in and what excites me. I don't worry about how it's going to be perceived.

Because we're brought into the world or educated in a certain way, we're trained to accept the world in a certain way.

I either enjoy things or not. And things either make me think, or they don't. Or they mess with me, and I feel awkward.

When people don't understand what they're watching, a lot of what they perceive has to do with who they themselves are.

I've played around with the notion of making a series on the premise of 'Alps' because it's one of the films no one saw.

I wouldn't be making films if I just wanted to express some specific ideas; then I would be writing essays or something.

There are various ways of delivering some kind of truth, so I try to find the style or the way that I find more effective.

Most times, women are seen through the male gaze, so they are often shown as housewives, girlfriends, or objects of desire.

Having a couple of films that were successful internationally has made the film community aware of the films coming out of Greece.

Whenever a film doesn't follow to the letter the preset strict conventional rules of today's commercial cinema, it's considered weird.

'The Lobster' is very particular, and we did need to create a very specific world with specific rules so the whole premise would work.

Yeah, it shouldn't be an issue. Stories about women, about men, about homosexuals, about heterosexuals. We shouldn't point at what it is.

Sometimes people say things and don't really know what they mean by what they're saying. Subconsciously, it might mean something different.

American culture is kind of a universal culture, I guess. It's things Greeks grew up with, common references you can use. It's very interesting.

I never think in metaphors or fully make those kind of associations myself. I just lay down a complex situation and hope things arise from that.

There's much more activity in England than in Greece. Or at least there's a lot more development, which obviously brings another set of problems.

I feel kind of offended when I watch films, and everything is explained to me - you know, laying out how I should feel from one scene to the next.

Being extremely honest is quite funny. But there's no recipe or concept that I can bring up that fully defines what we find humorous. It's instinctive.

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