18 Quotes by Mathieu Kassovitz

When you talk about young kids living in the hood, everywhere in the world, American music, American dress, American attitude is really important.

Like anywhere, we had to make people understand that we were there with good intentions, and that we were there with respect. We started making contacts with the people in the neighborhood three months before shooting began, so that everyone involved was comfortable.

Well, a special screening was set up for government officials, so they didn't have to see the experience of going to see the film. They certainly aren't going to the projects to see for themselves the situation.

We made it known that we were trying to show the reality of France. People think of Paris as the city of love or the city of light, but where you got love you got hate, where you got light you got darkness.

When a young man becomes a man it is a miracle. Indeed, I have become a man, I got married, I became a father. So I said yes to Miracle.

It's good that they've seen it, but how can I be satisfied after working for two years making a film which I hope will make a difference, when the government sees the film and does nothing about it?

In France they spend six months training policemen, then they give them a gun and put them on the streets, and I don't know that that's enough. The film's not against the police - although I think that if someone wants to be a cop there's got to be a problem.

I know that there are police that are trying hard to do the right thing, and the film is also abouth the way that the police are treated by the state.

I'm not a politician; I'm lucky to be a filmmaker and to be able to express myself through the films I make.