"There aren't many American directors here trying to direct a Japanese yakuza film. When you combine that with the fact that I don't speak much Japanese and this was an independent film I was financing myself - people were curious about what I was doing"
"The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stands still, where people talk and I tell them what to say, is exciting and rewarding"
"We have our own history, our own language, our own culture. But our destiny is also tied up with the destinies of other people - history has made us all South Africans"
"Creating the kind of connections between people that lead to collective civic action, political expression, community dialogue, shared cultural experiences"