Like a human rights lawyer who uses the law to rectify wrongs, I use filmic storytelling for the same effect.

The digital revolution has had a democratizing effect. Now anyone can be a filmmaker, but to be a good filmmaker is as hard as it ever was.

The biggest misconception about me and my work is that I only make political films denouncing human-rights atrocities, even though all of my films are about people fighting for their rights and their quest for justice. My films aren't depressing, are very human, and always offer a way forward.

When you make a documentary film, after many years the only thing you remember is what you put into the film, not what you took out.

Destiny doesn't control your life, but it does place you on a path. It's how you walk down that path that determines stories I tell.

If you make a great film full of emotion, of pathos, people want to continue to know more, to work harder.

Celebrate your victories and mark your defeats. Ultimately documentary filmmaking is not a job, it's a calling.

I'm an eclectic and avid filmgoer. I try to see everything from romantic comedies to blockbusters to art house films, world cinema and documentaries.

I believe that those who believe in the power of human rights must find new ways to address economic injustice - and on a scale commensurate with the millions of people around the world that are mired in poverty.

My advice to emerging documentary filmmakers would be: try to find other people, a group, a cooperative that you can work with. Filmmaking is hard and lonely and decidedly unglamorous. Find like-minded souls and share the joy and the misery.

I truly value the cinema experience, the tribal gathering in the dark to watch something larger than life. I like to sit in the first row with no heads in front of mine, and become one with the screen. I always stay for the complete credits so I can linger in the film's story just a little longer.