Jehane Noujaim Quotes

#1. Now, I don't know whether a film can change the world, but I know that it starts - I know the power of it - I know that it starts people thinking about how to change the world.

Jehane Noujaim

#2. Traveling around the world during the World Cup in 2006, I was thinking, 'Wow, this is such an incredible and global event.'

Jehane Noujaim

#3. I'll continue making films because I love being able to drop into other people's worlds. My goal is to be constantly learning.

Jehane Noujaim

#4. You know, Arabs are critical of United States foreign policy, but they also associate the U.S. with democratic principles and opportunity.

Jehane Noujaim

#5. Look at the Civil Rights Movement. Look at any kind of fight for change. People had to keep fighting and taking their rights. Rights are never given to you. They have to be fought for and they have to be taken.

Jehane Noujaim

#6. There are these very poor communities on the outskirts of Cairo called Mokattam, where a lot of the garbage collectors live. I used to volunteer there, doing health and education work when I was younger and living in Egypt.

Jehane Noujaim

#7. I have actually been very fortunate to be able to make films on my own credit card without having huge funders behind me dictating how the story should be told.

Jehane Noujaim

#8. When I hear the words 'activist filmmaking,' I think of somebody who's an activist, who wants to prove a particular point.

Jehane Noujaim

#9. Al Jazeera is demonized by the United States, yet in Egypt my father would be watching it.

Jehane Noujaim

#10. I've discovered I can't make a film about people I dislike.

Jehane Noujaim

#11. If you can laugh with somebody and relate to somebody, it becomes harder to dehumanize them. I think that most of what we are constantly bombarded with in terms of media leads you to a creation of 'the Other' and a dehumanization of 'the Other,' and it's very much an us-versus-them conversation.

Jehane Noujaim

#12. There are different opinions across the Middle East of Al-Jazeera. They've been kicked out of Egypt and Jordan and then let back in; they've been totally banned from Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Syria.

Jehane Noujaim

#13. I'm interested in characters that are complex people.

Jehane Noujaim

#14. It's incredible to see the creativity, beauty and hardships people capture when filmmaking is opened up and shared with the world.

Jehane Noujaim

#15. In making films, I'm constantly looking for people who are in conflict and who are going to surprise you and challenge you.

Jehane Noujaim

#16. It's important in any project to remain focused.

Jehane Noujaim

#17. It would be nice to be in one place for a while and have a social life again and get a job. But I'm not qualified to do anything. That's the problem.

Jehane Noujaim

#18. I don't know if there's such a thing as objectivity.

Jehane Noujaim

#19. I think everybody's had that feeling of sitting in a theater, in a dark room, with other strangers, watching a very powerful film, and they felt that feeling of transformation.

Jehane Noujaim

#20. Being a filmmaker is kind of like being a glorified spy.

Jehane Noujaim

#21. Al Jazeera is one entity that everyone across the Arab world watches. Arabs are proud of that.

Jehane Noujaim