“It’s really difficult to speak about it, but I just feel that the goal with these films, if there is a goal, it’s to really show the common thread amongst all of that. Hopefully that leads to empathy, because if you can empathize with a character, even if you can’t 100-percent put yourself in their shoes and walk in their shoes, that helps make the world a better place.”
– Sean Baker

“I hope that [Patti Cake$] can change somebody’s mind about what actors, what movie stars, can look and feel like. Changes their mind about what a popular movie can be. I get really excited if it can change some minds like that.”
– Geremy Jasper

“I hope that people are talking about education and expanding education, putting more money and time into schools. I hope that mentors or coaches or people who never thought about being mentors or coaches are having conversation to get involved with someone, because if you reach only one person, there’s no telling how many lives may change or be impacted.”
– Gari “Coach G” McIntyre

“It always excites us to share a story that doesn’t feel super developed in our culture and in our narratives on our screen, I feel like it’s also really nice to tell stories about women and for women…I think that I like making art for us and not for them. I’m not trying to divide genders here, but I do feel like the stories that I gravitate towards are stories about women.”
– Gillian Robespierre

“They’re not trained journalists. They wouldn’t necessarily even call themselves journalists. You know, they’re media activists, or citizen journalists. But they’re filling a void where ISIS has completely blacked out all information coming in and out of that city. If it wasn’t for them, we’d have no idea what’s happening there.”
– Matthew Heineman

“I made [A Ghost Story] so intuitively and so quickly and organically that I never had a thesis statement prepared when I went into it. I still don’t. I still watch the movie when I see it as an audience member.”
– David Lowery

“I’ve had people write parts for me. But I’ve never had anybody even think about writing a script for me. It’s pretty incredible.”
– Sam Elliott

“I just love that Jeff made a movie like this right now. I think it’s rare that people are making stuff like this, taking such risks when making movies. After watching this and seeing that, I hope that more people will be inspired to go crazy and make weird stuff. That would be great.”
– Aubrey Plaza

“The movie shows two very brave people who choose not to do that, taking their constituents with them on a perilous journey towards compromise. It seems to me that’s what we’re ultimately celebrating with the picture; compromise and the ability to live together.”
-Nick Hamm