My job as a film editor is to construct a dramatic narrative because otherwise it's just a chaotic arrangement of sequences..

You have to edit the material. That assumes that some kind of a mind is operating in relation to the material. Not all minds are the same. Every aspe….

Documentary filmmaking ruins you for real life, because you learn to be extremely attentive..

In moviemaking, you learn to pay attention to detail, because so much is in the detail. And when you're shooting, you try to be very alert to what's ….

Of course there's conscious manipulation! Everything about a movie is manipulation ... If you like it, it's an interpretation. If you don't like it, ….

It is always a problem to know what an image means..

I'm interested in ordinary experience, and regardless of the precise definition of ordinary, and I've found that in so-called ordinary experience, th….

Making movies is an effort is an attempt to leave a trace of your existence..

I'm drawn to making movies about contemporary life. The reason I choose institutions is because they provide a limit, a boundary..

I think I've learned a lot about how to make movies, and particularly about how to edit movies by thinking about how similar problems are resolved in….

Unfortunately, I never played an instrument. I can't blame my parents, but I wish I had had music lessons. It's odd because I think I have a good sen….

Paris is a beautiful city to walk around in. And, you know, all the obvious things: I like the museums, I like the theater, I like the dance. And it'….

There's a literal track: who says what to whom, what are people wearing, etcetera. And there's the abstract track: what ideas are suggested by the li….

This whole business of documentary being a second-class citizen is bullshit. A documentary can be as interesting, as dramatic, as sad, as funny, blah….

My goal is to make as many films as possible about different aspects of American life..

I do not think that my films or films by any other filmmaker represent "THE TRUTH." I do not feel the need to categorize my films or anyone else's..

I don't really know what I want, other than good sequences, whatever that means. What I find is always a matter of chance, judgment, and luck..

I think I have an obligation, to the people who have consented to be in the film, to make a film that is fair to their experience. The editing of my ….

I think my movies aren't sentimental. I think my movies are funny and sad and realistic. Not realistic in the sense that they're documentaries, but r….

I'm in no way suggesting that I succeed, but it's inspiring to read somebody who does succeed and from whom, in a general way, you can draw examples ….

If I worked in my apartment, I'd never leave my apartment..