Hirokazu Kore-eda

“Reflecting on the past, where the film industry became united with 'national interest' and 'national policy,' I tend to think that keeping a clear distance from government authority is the right thing to do.”

“The children in 'Nobody Knows' had a resonance with me. The children are projections of myself.”

“My mother loved films! She adored Ingrid Bergman, Joan Fontaine, Vivien Leigh. We couldn't afford to go together to the cinema, but she was always watching their movies on TV.”

“We used to have prawn tempura: that was my mother's favourite dish. But she had to go out to work instead of my father, so she couldn't find the time to cook nice meals. So we ate more modern food: a lot of frozen and instant food. But I never complained about it to my mother.”

“As a son and as a father, there are still various things that I haven't done as well as I should have - that's my dilemma and regret.”

“We can see loss as something missing, but that missing space can be filled with something else, and that creates healing.”

“My grandfather had Alzheimer's. He would eat everything and anything that was around; then he wouldn't remember that he ate it and would demand to be fed again.”

“When I was 27, I won an honorable mention in a scriptwriting contest and got a television job as an assistant director.”

“In terms of film festivals, Cannes is the greatest launch pad.”

“Maybe family is an eternal subject for me.”

“The vividness of children is easier to see when they're completely left to their own devices.”

“Japanese society doesn't have a god - no absolute presence.”

“Hardly anyone says anything real in the courtroom. Almost everything is decided ahead of time, and the truth is found behind the scenes.”

“With 'Nobody Knows,' I consciously set out to make a fiction film, which is a different approach from 'Distance,' but I still applied a lot of the things I learned from making 'Distance': for example, how to use the camera in relation to the children and how to create the right atmosphere on set.”

“I am hopeful that films can connect people who are in conflict in a separated world.”

“I particularly relate to the films of Mikio Naruse and Shinichi Kamoshita, a person whose work I watched very much as a child, a director of family dramas for television.”

“I think a lot of Japanese morals are built around what the dead would think of us.”

“My mother used to work in a bank in Tokyo. It was a busy district, and after work, she used to go and watch films.”

“When you make a documentary, you have to adapt to what reality imposes upon you.”

“A lot of people, especially Japanese, come to the theater to have a good cry.”