Time & Perspective Quote by Jim McKay

Dry, almost throwaway, Jim McKay's line lands like a sly wink from inside the media machine. "Well" opens with a broadcaster's practiced shrug, a verbal clearing of the throat that signals both modesty and control. Then he gives you the payload: not an epiphany, not a grand statement about cinema, just a count. The simplicity is the point. McKay, a journalist whose authority was built on being unflappable in public, treats an appearance at "New Directors" as something you log, like assignments, Olympics, breaking news. He refuses the prestige script.

The subtext is a quiet negotiation between earnestness and self-protection. Festivals love mythmaking: the discovery narrative, the sense that everyone present is witnessing the future. McKay punctures that balloon gently by placing himself in time: second time, not first, not life-changing, not "honored". It's experience talking, and experience is the enemy of hype.

Context matters: McKay came from a generation of on-air journalists trained to sound natural while never revealing too much. He understood the camera as a social contract: you offer a human cadence, but you don't center yourself. By framing the moment as repetition, he normalizes the institution and, in the same breath, normalizes his own presence within it. It's both humility and quiet status flex: you don't say "I've been here before" unless you have.

The line also hints at the fatigue of the cultural circuit. Newness is the brand; returning is the reality. McKay lets that contradiction sit there, deadpan, and trusts the audience to catch it.