Sometimes identity can be your salvation. It can be liberating to find your place in the world, but at some point, identity can hold you back.

- Justin Simien

I am more than a black guy. I am a person, I'm storyteller, I'm a son, I'm a friend, so I am all those things so it is frustrating to a degree to be …

- Justin Simien

I love films from all these different points of views that used the idea of the school as a way to talk about the American experience. It took me a w…

- Justin Simien

I love being entertained sure, but the movies that I live for, the movies that I buy and think about and stay in my mind are the movies that entertai…

- Justin Simien

As a person of color, I was just really tired of the fact that I wasn't seeing my story in the culture.

- Justin Simien

I have this natural thing in my head that when I sit down to write something serious, I tend to make jokes. I can't help it. I can't help but desire …

- Justin Simien

America is a different country, and it will forever be a different country, after the election of Donald Trump.

- Justin Simien

As a director, I try not to implement a way for working, for every single actor, across the board. I try to work with each one, on an individual basi…

- Justin Simien

I love when scenes are intentionally and meticulously planned so we feel like this is a handcrafted scene that only works in this moment and this mov…

- Justin Simien