Kelly Reichardt

There's no such thing as making a film without stress.

I like going off and making films in private, where the hassles of everyday life aren't there. And also, selfishly, you're taking your crew away from all the things in their everyday life, so they're completely focused on your movie.

One thing you learn over and over again is to trust your own instincts.

People make art for reasons other than money. People make art because they're compelled to, it's how they deal with the world or how they translate things to the world. For some people it's like food. You need to sit down at the table every day and work or go to your studio every day and for other things to have some kind of balance to them.

I can laugh at anything.

Look, if you're from Florida and you get out of Florida and build a life full of interesting people, then you're successful already. The rest is just a bonus.

My films are just glimpses of people passing through.

I have a lot of respect for the art of acting.

Actors can make your film better.

I've never made a film where I don't have final cut. And I can't imagine doing that. That just seems like it would be turmoil.

Every time I watch a history of cinema - or a documentary on film - it will show eleven men talking about movies that are made now and include no females and no one of color. Systematically women are left out of the history of film.

Being at Bard puts me in a world where I feel like I'm in a constant conversation about film that I find challenging and that keeps me turned on. As if having Hollywood come calling is everybody's dream. As if that door is open to everybody.

When an actor comes completely locked in to what a character should be, that's the hardest thing to undo.

Jean-Pierre Melville is a favorite filmmaker of mine, I love the Hollywood New Wave, but that genre is made of films about men made by men. So there is this tradition of the bumbling jerk in a way, that is also a hero in some respect, some of that is just the nature of narrative.

When you're young, you're looking for things that make you feel like you could make a film.

All those women I work with are just so awesome. Then there's just people too, like James LeGross is one of the great chameleon actors of our time. You don't have to think about how he would fit into a role. He could be whatever you offer him.

Lotta Sea Lice' is a record that sets a nice mood and tone. It's good at all junctures of the day - morning coffee, sitting around time, knitting time, nap time.

When I write, I mostly listen to Alice Coltrane or Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou, something that's not distracting but that keeps you from thinking about just one thing.

I'm a sucker for Kurt Vile.

I'm from Miami, and the Pacific Northwest is just, the visualness of it, was so extremely different than Miami, where I came from... Flat white sidewalks, black asphalt, spots of swimming pools. And then I lived in New York for, have lived in New York, for 30 years. And so the Pacific Northwest just, you know, looked so different.