Home / Quotes / Quote by Haile Gerima

Quote by Haile Gerima

“I'm organizing documentary films, and whenever scriptwriting gets too tedious I go to my editing room and start to edit the documentary, even if I don't have the full funding yet. So you have to keep yourself busy, you have to like the subject matter.”

Quote by Haile Gerima

Author

Haile Gerima, born on March 4, 1946, is an accomplished Ethiopian filmmaker whose works are renowned for their profound social criticism and unique interpretation of African culture. more

You May Also Like

“There's no other way but struggling, forging ahead to do the film.”

Way Film Struggle Forging Forging Ahead

Author:Haile Gerima

“To me the industry has always said that the lovers and haters and principal characters will always be white in Hollywood, and black people will always be appendages of those kinds of dramas, or they will be comedic outlets. It will never change.”

People Kind Said Character Black White Industry Lovers Drama Hollywood Black People Principal Outlets Never Change Comedic

Author:Haile Gerima

“I am not interested only in telling a story, but I want to tell it my way. I don't want my accent, my temperament, my narrative style to be compromised to fit into a mold of the Hollywood type.”

Way Want Stories Style Type Fit Hollywood My Way Narrative Not Interested Accents Temperament Mold

Author:Haile Gerima

“I think not many young people are willing to pay the price of telling their own story.”

People Thinking Stories Young Pay Willing Pay The Price

Author:Haile Gerima

“A lot of young black people in America, and even in Africa and Brazil, would say that they are telling their story, but most of the films are like application forms with the formulaic ideas of Hollywood.”

People Ideas Stories America Film Form Young Black Hollywood Application Black People Brazil

Author:Haile Gerima

“For any movement to emerge, it has to be innovatively independent from the mainstream cinema, and I don't see that much.”

Movement Independent Cinema Mainstream

Author:Haile Gerima

“Most young people make films to be accepted, to be discovered, when in fact that was the last idea with the group I went to film school with. To be discovered was not our intention. Our intention was to tell our story our way, and make our own mistakes and learn from film to film.”

People Way Ideas Facts Stories School Lasts Film Young Mistake Groups Intention Accepted Film School

Author:Haile Gerima

“Most, especially the young filmmakers, do not see strength in communal or collective existence. They just think they're going to conquer the world as individuals. There is no world like that. In cinema it's always, even in Hollywood, a collective surge.”

Thinking World Young Individual Existence Hollywood Conquer Cinema Filmmaker Collectives Conquer The World

Author:Haile Gerima

“When you don't work together you can't emerge as a force. It becomes what some call a "lonely struggle" and individual self-destruction.”

Self Together Individual Force Struggle Lonely Destruction Working Together Self Destruction

Author:Haile Gerima

“The system knows how to cherry pick black people. It's like affirmative action - once a year, one is recognized. But what has to occur is self-emergence so if they ignore you, you don't have to disappear.”

People Ifs Knows Years Self Action Black Know How Picks Disappear Black People Cherries Emergence Affirmative Action Affirmative Year One

Author:Haile Gerima