For some reason, I have always been interested in the stories of people who are exiled and who are deprived of rights. My main motive to make a film is to keep the society in mind and the hospitality adhered.

I am not at all interested in theories about cinema. I am only interested in images and people and sound. I am really a very simple person.

I'm not rich.

Marguerite Duras was a very good friend of mine and an intellectual hero. She was also a sort of mother figure. Of course she was an influence.

I always thought of Djibouti as a place where human history hasn't really begun yet - or perhaps it's already over. There's something in the landscape that's stronger than human civilisation. There's no agriculture, for example, and there are live volcanoes.

I always thought Vincent Lindon had a sexy body, a body you can trust, a solid body you can lean on.

I don't know - music in film, for me, is not another part of a soundtrack; it is something that also helps to approach a character, to foresee the type of image - you see what I mean - it's like a part of the process.

Making pizza is a great job. All that kneading the dough - everything to do with cooking is wonderful, sensual.

I'm not witty.