Cinema is not about format, and it's not about venue. Cinema is an approach. Cinema is a state of mind on the part of the filmmaker. I've seen commercials that have cinema in them, and I've seen Oscar-winning movies that don't. I'm fine with this.
Interpretation
Cinema transcends mere technicalities and locations; it is a mindset driven by creativity.
This quote by Steven Soderbergh emphasizes that cinema is not confined to specific formats or physical places; rather, it is a creative approach and a way of thinking that characterizes the filmmaker's vision. Soderbergh suggests that true cinema can be found in unexpected places, reflecting the idea that artistry lies in intention and expression, rather than strict adherence to conventions.
In practice
This quote can be shared at a film festival to inspire aspiring filmmakers.
If you talk to any filmmaker, and if you said to them, 'I guarantee you x amount of money per month for the rest of your life, and it's not a big amount of money, but I can also guarantee that you will work continually, you will get to make what you want to make,' any filmmaker on the planet will make that kind of deal. I would have made it.
When people say that moviegoing is dead, I go, 'OK, so the makers of 'Get Out' should've sold that movie to a platform? Then they don't have this insane, crazy success theatrically all over the world.'
I want to thank anyone who spends part of their day creating...anybody who spends part of their day sharing their experience with us-I think this world would be unlivable without art and I thank you.
Making a film that's supposed to be fun to watch is really hard - that's the weird irony of it.
A success, to me, is the ability to keep working. That's success. It has nothing to do with money; it's the ability to keep getting things made, period.
You don't go make 'Schizopolis' if you're trying to protect some idea of yourself as a filmmaker.
As far as I am concerned the paint is the person. I want it to work for me just as flesh does
My philosophy is that I'm an artist. I perform an art not with a paint brush or a camera. I perform with bodily movement. Instead of exhibiting my art in a museum or a book or on canvas, I exhibit my art in front of the multitudes.
Could a man live by it, it were not unpleasant employment to be a poet.
All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.
No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business.
In a book, you can describe a scene and have any song you want playing on the radio and have any painting you want hanging on the wall. That was really freeing to me when I was writing 'Ready Player One.' I could throw in everything that I love.
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