We never did things as we were supposed to do. That was part of our ethic. We did what felt right to us, not what someone told us we should do..

As a son of a man who pretended to be one thing for 33 years of my life and then was another thing, the questions of 'what is real' and 'what is not ….

There's great sadness and life doesn't work out like you would want, on a lot of levels, but there's no need to feel all alone. This happens to every….

There's some movies I watch, they're kind of like my anti-anxiety pill, my anti-depressant pill. I watch them at least once or twice a month probably….

As someone who grew up in a house where there wasn't a lot of talking, I'm used to just looking at the world. And in general I often feel like I just….

My dad's gay experiences really had a very positive influence on me and my straight relationships - how to better accept all the weirdness and ambigu….

The littlest thing can have the strongest connection when you're grieving. Your Proustian, poetic nerve is turned up to ten..

Humans are vulnerable, messy little animals and that's normal. And all I want to do is make a space for that in my films..

L.A. is so isolated and unhip in a way; it gives you room to figure out who you are and explore more personal stuff..

I am intrigued by inanimate objects. They're a piece of history, someone's statement and ideas of life..

There is a drunkenness to grief, which is good..

My experience, with both my parents, is that grief has a lot of down, sad things, but I was also really emotionally raw, in the first year after each….

Actors are pretending for you, but they're not lying. They are not putting on a guise instead of themselves. They are finding things inside that they….

If you ask me, the place that a story happens is as equal character. It's almost like an ecological viewpoint: These people are living in this piece ….

People ask 'How does doing a film compare to doing an ad?' Well, when you're doing a commercial you don't have to sell tickets. You have a captured a….

No one leaves the edit room thinking, 'Yeah, I nailed that one!' Everyone I know goes into their first premiere or their first screening thinking, 'I….

Being a good Hans Haacke student, part of his influence on me is that there's no difference between a gallery show and a film - or even an ad and a T….

Sadness is a super important thing not to be ashamed about but to include in our lives. One of the bigger problems with sadness or depression is ther….

The oldest sibling always knows things that the younger ones don't..

I would hate to think I'm promoting sadness as an aesthetic. But I grew up in not just a family but a town and a culture where sadness is something y….

I don't really believe that documentary is objective reality and fiction is all illusion..