“Im free – but Im also not free because there are millions of young people living in Iran. A filmmaker can only do a little.”

I use humour a lot. My foundation is tragic, but my appearance is humorous.

I always loved music, and I always wanted to make a film about it, but I could never do it because of the censorship that was around.

In Kurdistan, theres a lot of hardship – a lot of wars, a lot of bitter and difficult lifestyles. And witnessing all those made me a director.

I had no education in filmmaking. I started with a 8mm camera. I made 34 films, and little by little I gained more experience in filming.

You need a team that speaks your language.

I used to believe that people are only born once, but now I feel I have been reborn, like I was given a new life. I see myself as a child, full of energy and hope.

Actually, the only thing I regret is not making more underground films and bringing them with me as historical documents.

I love music, I make films with music, I eat with music, I sleep with music, I think with music. Music makes me dream, it strengthens my creativity.

For me, its better to live without looking over your shoulder, worrying about who is controlling your phone, maybe poisoning your food.

But, for a little while, this is the place for us — a good place too–a place of good omen, a place of beginning things–and of ending things I never thought would end.

Buddha might be the one thing that could settle Godzilla down. He might say, “Listen Godzilla, you don’t have to do all this. Just chill out a little bit and everything will be fine”.

My persona on stage was always coming from a place of I know better than you and I’m going to be a little bit pretentious in your face with these sort of crass ideas.

It’s little quirks like this that could make life difficult for a chess machine.

Live near to God, and so all things will appear to you little In comparison to eternal realities.

I was very much in my room with my marionette stage, you know, creating these incredibly boring things that I felt were so fascinating, and forcing my relatives to come, and charging money for them to see my little productions.

My life has gotten a little more complicated than my ability to describe it. That used to be the definition of madness, now it’s just continuous overload.

When I’m into a woman, I literally can’t stop staring. I’m like a little kid. I become completely entranced.