Ira_Sachs

We were shooting a scene where she has no dialogue -- she's alone in bed with her husband, played by actor Darren Burrows -- and I watched her on the monitor very closely. It was then, seeing how much she could express in her face (almost as if she was writing paragraphs for me, but without words), that I understand how brilliant an actress she really is, and why she has 3 Academy Award nominations (and one win!). She is extraordinarily committed to making each moment on screen meaningful and complex.

they claim it's for language -- there are a few F-words and 2 MF-words -- but there is enough precedent for them to decide that the film is still very suitable for family audiences. It's more of a shame than I knew, because I'm now hearing of friends not taking their children, and I am shocked that they follow the rating. It's about as family friendly a movie as Miracle on 34th St.

I never count on the film industry to support my work, so even as we were soliciting finances from film companies, I was developing another strategy, that relied on individuals who believed in the film's story, and also that it could be a commercially successful film. Ultimately, 26 individuals supported the films creation -- and they have all made their money back!

In truth, it's hard for any artist to survive, or at least most, and as a gay artist, almost everything economically is set up to discourage work in which gay lives and stories are told. Hollywood, for example, didn't put a dollar into this film, even though it had well known stars. That's why I created Queer/Art organization, to create a ballast against that force that encourages GLBT people to tell their stories. You can find out more at queerartfilm.com and queerartmentorship.org

I get inspiration from so many filmmakers not working today, who actually seem more sophisticated in their presentation of gay characters than most working today, including Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Patrice Chereau, Chantal Akermann, Pier Paolo Passolini....what's challenging today is for queer filmmakers to sustain a career for years, which is what's necessary to get better and deeper.