Very Often I've Known People

We’re Face To Face With Images All The Time In A Way That We Never Have Been Before... Young People Need To Understand That Not All Images Are There To Be Consumed Like Fast Food And Then Forgotten – We Need To Educate Them To Understand The Difference Between Moving Images That Engage Their Humanity And Their Intelligence, And Moving Images That Are Just Selling Them Something.

The Only Way I Was Able To Defend Myself Was To Be Able To Take Punishment. Then I Got A Lot Of Respect. They Said, "oh, He's Okay, He Can Take It. Don't Hit Him." The Guys Were Pretty Big, And I Had Asthma.

I Know That I Come From Mid-20th Century America, Urban, Specifically Downtown New York, Specifically An Italian-american Area, Roman Catholic - That's Who I Am. And A Part Of What I Know Is There's A Decency To People Who Tried To Make A Living In The Kind Of World That Was Around Us And Also The Skid Row Area Of The Bowery; It Impressed Me.

You Have To Remain Strong. That's The Kind Of Filmmaker I Want To Encourage. Orson Welles Was The One Who Said, You Know, You Can Learn Anything You Need To Know About Filmmaking- That's Camera, Sound, Celluloid, Video At This Point- In Four Hours. It Has Nothing To Do With Anything. It Has Nothing To Do With It... It Has To Do With What You Want To Say. If You Feel You Have Something To Say, You'll Find That Way To Get It Said, On Film, And Not Let Anyone Or Anything Chip Away At That Or Tarnish It, Because It's Something Special And Precious.

You've Got To Protect Whatever Creative Talent You Have Left.