Barry Jenkins

“Filmmaking is a very privileged art form. It costs a lot of money to make these things.”

“As a writer, a blank page will humble the hell out of you. It always does, and it always will.”

“I got into film school. I went and didn't know anything about it. Over the course of two years, I kind of got kind of good at it. You know, I had a brief moment where I wasn't sure if I coul...”

“As a filmmaker whose first film was made with the DIY tools of digital cinema, I love how the democratization of the filmmaking process and platforms like YouTube enables people to tell stor...”

“There's nothing in Hollywood that's inherently detrimental to good art. I think that's a fallacy that we've created because we frame the work that way too overtly. 'This is Hollywood.' 'This...”

“There were times when we didn't have hot water or a phone line. But I guarantee you, we always had cable, and it was always on.”

“Art is inherently political. Even trying to make a film that has nothing to do with politics is, in and of itself, a political act.”

“Film is not an amazing medium to relay interiority. I think literature is much better for that.”

“I wasn't known as a neighborhood tough or anything like that. But yeah, I was, like, a scrappy kid. You know, I kind of kept to myself, you know?”

“It used to be that watching a film was a very special occasion, the same way flying was. Before, if you took a flight from New York to L.A., most of the windows would be open. Now, we get on...”

“I didn't really want to be a filmmaker, growing up. Other than Spike Lee's movies, I would think, 'Where is a place for me?' We were so damn poor that it just seemed too far beyond.”

“You walk on a set, and you have no idea - that's why I don't storyboard. It's all possible.”

“I've worked at this film festival in Telluride called the Telluride Film Festival. Been there since 2002. I used to make popcorn. I was an usher. Cleaned toilets, everything. Grew up there a...”

“Because I'm so in the eye of the hurricane, I don't have a really good perception of what's happening. I'm in a room talking to people, and that's all I know. But sometimes I go out of these...”

“As a filmmaker, I really want to utilize the tools to carry the voice - my voice, and the voice of the characters.”