I'm interested in characters that are complex people.

It's incredible to see the creativity, beauty and hardships people capture when filmmaking is opened up and shared with the world.

I'll continue making films because I love being able to drop into other people's worlds. My goal is to be constantly learning.

In making films, I'm constantly looking for people who are in conflict and who are going to surprise you and challenge you.

It's important in any project to remain focused.

I have actually been very fortunate to be able to make films on my own credit card without having huge funders behind me dictating how the story should be told.

When I hear the words 'activist filmmaking,' I think of somebody who's an activist, who wants to prove a particular point.

You know, Arabs are critical of United States foreign policy, but they also associate the U.S. with democratic principles and opportunity.

Al Jazeera is demonized by the United States, yet in Egypt my father would be watching it.

I've discovered I can't make a film about people I dislike.

Al Jazeera is one entity that everyone across the Arab world watches. Arabs are proud of that.

Light generates life and causes it to grow.

Don't hate the game, hate the player... the player should have known better than to play the game in the first place.

Remain vigilant and try diligently not to succumb to the soul-sucking, mind-numbing, ill-mannered attitudes that seem so prevalent in the world today.

I've got a long history of suicid in my family; the good news is it skips a generation, so, if I'm lucky, my kids will kill themselves.

I overcame myself, the sufferer; I carried my own ashes to the mountains; I invented a brighter flame for myself.

Like most writers I spend a lot of my time sort of thinking, "It's such agony, I can't do it."

Peace of mind comes from not wanting to change other, but by simply accepting them as they are. True acceptance is always without demands and expectations.

We don't need someone who can think. We need someone with enough digits to hold a pen.

People can certainly be creative when they're under the gun, but only when they're able to focus on the work.

Believe in your passions and act on them.