I've always been a fiction filmmaker and I've been heading in the direction of fiction filmmaking, doing documentaries along the way.

My main trick is to work with amazing people. It's a long and twisty journey and you need people that really are amazing and have this rare gift of honesty and courage and really open up.

I don't believe in objectivity. I observe the observer's paradox every moment I'm filming. Your presence is changing everything there's no mistaking it. And you have a responsibility.

I remember when the Berlin Wall fell and suddenly intractable problems get solved.

Extreme sports tricks are becoming increasingly complex, the courses ever more challenging and crashes all too common.

I'm not an expert on how to configure the sport, but I can observe and say that accidents seem to be a part of it. The athletes are incredible, with the courage that they accept the risk of death, paralysis, and brain injury. These are really life-changing, life-threatening injuries, and the risk is extremely high.

I find titles the hardest thing. I was worried that 'Waste Land' was too much of a downer. For me, 'The Crash Reel' confronts what the film is about: it's not just about the reality of a crash, it's about the extremity we all face, and what happens when life crashes on you.

Some documentaries are made by people who are driven more by one particular story, or have different backgrounds or ambitions, but I'm always looking for projects that let me be the best filmmaker I can be, and to be stretched and grow further.

With portable cameras and affordable data and non-linear digital editing, I think this is a golden age of documentary filmmaking. These new technologies mean we can make complicated, beautifully crafted and cinematic films about real-life stories.

The world needs more women filmmakers, so we have to keep encouraging ourselves and one another, and eventually things must get easier for us.