"I consider my films to be poems that are all as personal as my writing and as hand-made"
About this Quote
The phrasing "as personal as my writing" smuggles in a hierarchy: film, for him, should be as intimate as the solitary act of writing, not diluted by committee thinking. It’s also a quiet corrective to the idea that directors are primarily managers. Broughton positions himself as a maker with a singular voice, closer to a diarist than a ringmaster.
"Hand-made" is the sharpest word in the sentence. It rejects slickness and scale in favor of touch: visible seams, playful artifice, the sense that someone chose every gesture and cut. In the context of mid-century avant-garde and poetic cinema, it aligns him with the DIY ethos of experimental film - where limited resources became an aesthetic, and imperfection signaled authenticity rather than failure.
The subtext is a demand for a different kind of audience contract. Don’t come looking for plot efficiency or mass appeal. Come the way you come to a poem: ready to meet a person, not a product.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Broughton, James. (2026, January 17). I consider my films to be poems that are all as personal as my writing and as hand-made. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-consider-my-films-to-be-poems-that-are-all-as-74683/
Chicago Style
Broughton, James. "I consider my films to be poems that are all as personal as my writing and as hand-made." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-consider-my-films-to-be-poems-that-are-all-as-74683/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I consider my films to be poems that are all as personal as my writing and as hand-made." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-consider-my-films-to-be-poems-that-are-all-as-74683/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.







