105 Quotes by Justin Simien

I went to a school called Chapman University, which is a wonderful film school. It was a great program, but it was very white, and it was a culture shock for me because I grew up in Houston, Texas, and I went through what they call magnet schools, so my friends were like a Benetton ad.

Satire and comedy are really the only film mediums where you can get into ideas and have people leave the theater without being moralized.

Racism is systemic: It's oppression that's built into the laws, legislation, into the way neighborhoods are policed, and into job opportunities and health care and education.

I loved Lena Dunham's 'Girls.'

I've been taught through life experience that, like, I'd better open my mouth and quickly define myself in a new space and with new people because, if I don't, I will be defined.

To surrender your ego, you have to have one first.

I'm not a big fan of shooting something that looks like it could belong in any movie. I'm not a fan of, okay, 'wide shot, wide shot, medium shot, close-up, close-up - we'll figure it out in post.' I hate that.

Hip-hop isn't dead by any means, but it's not something I define my black identity with.

The thing about TV is you kind of have an endless canvas. You can always keep going.