People want black and white answers, but it's not one thing or another. I think the only way we're going to make good things is to inspire people and make them feel as though what they're watching is real.

I know that sounds contradictory - you're going on a journey, but once you know who your characters are, you become more disciplined and you film less and less.

It's always scary making a film as I never set anything up or ask anyone to do anything, so I worry that we'll find a story. I have to trust that a film will come out of the journey we embark on. I have many, many sleepless nights.

I try to make films where the audience forgets the filmmaking and gets engrossed in the story as it unfolds. I don't want them to ever feel bored, or that they're being told what to think, or to feel depressed. I don't like films about victims - I want to celebrate brave survivors like Brenda and the wonderful women in the film.

Personally, I don't like watching films about victims - people where you're meant to think, 'Oh, this is terrible,' and you go home feeling really depressed.

I don't make 'issue' films. I like making films about rebels or pioneers or people that are doing something.

Those are the films I want to make. I don't want to make a film about, Oh, those poor prostitutes! Or Oh, isn't it terrible in Chicago! I want to make a film where people think, Brenda's like me!

I'm not generalizing anymore about men and women, because I think these old terms of masculine and feminine are going very fast with the rise of transgender rights that are questioning what all these categories are.

There's no point in making something if you're not falling in love with the people you're filming and you want them to really enjoy you being around. It would be weird if, when you're making a film, you don't think it's going to be the best ever or the worst ever - I guess it goes from one feeling to another.

I remember very clearly when I found my first soulmate, it was actually in my late 20s, that wonderful feeling of being accepted by people.

I meet all these American filmmakers that film for months and months, and it's a mystery to me. I couldn't make a film like that. I have to be very clear in what I'm doing and where it's going, and be very disciplined about what I film.

The magic of documentary is that I keep being surprised and amazed by the things I film.