The Piano Lesson' is very sophisticated, easily the most adult or complex material I've attempted. It's the first film I've written that has a proper….

With 'Bright Star' and with 'The Piano,' too, I felt a kind of sadness about it being in such a different era, because of my lack of experience with ….

I did this Super-8 film at art school called Tissues, this black comedy about a family whose father has been arrested for child molestation. I was ab….

But short films are not inferior, just different. I think the short gives a freedom to film-makers. What's appealing is that you don't have as much r….

I've had a lot of different responses to my films. I got a lot of support from 'The Piano,' the obvious one, but it feels like an ocean, with a lot g….

It's harder being a woman director because on the whole women don't have husbands or boyfriends who are willing to be wives.

The studio system is kind of an old boys system and it's difficult for them to trust women to be capable.

My musical knowledge is so bad it's embarrassing. When composers discuss music with someone as primitive as myself, they have to talk about it in ter….

This is the first generation to grow up on Thatcher - it's a different ethos. It's money minded, and it's the cult of yourself. Now that's fine, exce….

In some ways Holy Smoke is about people's journey to the heart..

Only when you are relaxed can you see what's going on..

As for how criticism of Keats' poetry relates to criticism of my own work, I'll leave that for others to decide..

I think women don't grow up with the harsh world of criticism that men grow up with, we are more sensitively treated, and when you first experience t….

It's a luxury to be able to tell a long form story. I love novels, and I love to have a long relationship with characters..

That's just how I see things on a base level: there's so much going on. Or at least I like to have that feeling. It's part of being interested in not….

What I have learned from my work up to now, is to try to be open, but also protect myself by not letting the good and the evil get too much importanc….

Performers are so vulnerable. They're frightened of humiliation, sure their work will be crap. I try to make an environment where it's warm, where it….

And, I mean, I think poetry does need to be met to some extent, especially, I guess, 19th century poetry, and for me, it's just been so worth the eff….

Women often postpone their lives, thinking that if they're not with a partner then it doesn't really count. They're still searching for their prince,….

I seem to have been able to make a career out of doing what I feel like doing, so why not keep doing it? What's corrupting is wanting to be more impo….

When I read Andrew Motion's biography, I wept. It's something about the purity of the story and how fresh it was because of the love letters Keats wr….