- A good film isn't something you make, it's something you find.
- Mocking something is usually the first step towards totally embracing it.
- Only one story matters anymore, and that is our relationship with the story. I wish we could all do as Kiarostami did, and tell stories about people telling stories.
- [on coincidence] As writers, we are told to avoid it, but in life we all love it. We tell stories about coincidence because it appeases our desperate need for meaning. Anytime we laugh or empathize with such a story, a old relic in our unconscious affirms: "God exists."
- [on overcoming addiction] As far as I know, sobriety is the best tool for exploring the world.
- [on the creative process] Ideas that come from music are often unreliable. You should trust ideas that come to you in silence.
- [on making a movie during the years of the Greek economic crisis] I was afraid to make the Rocket, sure, but I was even more afraid of not making it - and remaining in limbo forever. Look, I could have blamed the circumstances for my own inertia, but I didn't. I started my own company, bought my own Arri Alexa, rounded up my best friends, served as my own cinematographer, producer, editor, assistant, grip, key grip, you name it. It took us four years, and we were alone, but we did it. And they weren't easy years: I lost my job twice, friends also twice, I went through depression and exhaustion, my father died in my arms, I was put in jail and on trial, I was extorted, hurt, and stolen from, but I never stopped making the Rocket. And I would do it again a thousand times. Even though it's a lighthearted comedy.
- Whenever people tell me life is complicated, I always ask them "compared to what?"
- [During a Q&A at the 60th Thessaloniki Film Festival, when asked about overcoming adversity in filmmaking] You never really have enemies until you hold a sword in your hands, do you?
- An artist is someone willing to stay behind, and observe what others overlook.
- A narrative gives closure to things that wouldn't otherwise have it.
- I don't think you can have new ideas, but I do believe you can combine things in ways previously unthought of.
- [on his father's passing] I'm so tired of carrying the best parts of others in me, all the time. It's a heavy load that I bare with half a heart. My dad died and I carry his best opinions, his advice, his humor, I let it operate independently upon circumstance, so that he won't completely go away. I've done the same thing with girlfriends and old friends. Ultimately, you have to let go of what's hurting you. Nothing is more important than moving forward.
- [on selecting projects] I call this the "Ten Objection Rule:" If more than ten of your closest friends object to it, then you know it's your next project.
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