I knew, starting in 10th grade, I wanted to be in theater and an actor. I went to acting school in Siberia, but there was no future there - and I was consumed with ambition.

Art is not some sort of guideline for understanding. It's a thing unto itself.

What I know is that I am honest about my films, and my films are honest about reality. The stories themselves dictate the way that they should be told.

Everything that fed my energy and imagination is something that I'm disinclined to speak about.

The most important thing for me is the image, not the thought.

Film entertains with different angles, quick moves, like a commercial. But filmmakers like [Wim] Wenders allow themselves to observe a subject for a long time without changing an angle, and allow you to do that along with them.

When I was shooting the film I did not see the story as an everyday tale or a social one. To a great extent, the film is a mythological look on human life. This is probably what I would like the audience to keep in mind before they enter the screening room.

Most Russians don't treat the government, or those in power, as something close to them. They don't believe that they, as ordinary people, are able to change the development of things. That's why they have a very specific ironic sentiment towards power and the figures that represent it. I wanted to translate this irony into the cinematic language.

Some actors come to casting and ask me, Didn't you see my previous roles? We do not work with actors like this. Their previous roles do not matter I need the actual work with an actor in this particular character that has been written in our script. What matters is flexibility, believability and efficiency of an actor.

Observing life, living through it. As you experience life some events call upon you to suffer through them and that's what brings inspiration.

There are things which are without answers, and there is nobody who can explain them. Either we feel them and sense them, or not. Sometimes we just give up and carry on.