Ethical Filmmaking Quotes

No matter how big or new they are, I always look for the intention of the filmmaker first. Their intention has to be in the right place.

I only believe in making movies with integrity.

I think it's our obligation as filmmakers, as people investigating the world, to create the reality that is most insightful to the issues at hand. Here are human beings, like us, boasting about atrocities that should be unimaginable.

I think I have an obligation, to the people who have consented to be in the film, to make a film that is fair to their experience. The editing of my films is a long and selective process. I do feel that when I cut a sequence, I have an obligation to the people who are in it, to cut it so that it fairly represents what I felt was going on at the time, in the original event. I don't try and cut it to meet the standards of a producer or a network or a television show.

My father was a certain kind of man - I saw how he treated my mother and his family and how he treated strangers. And I vowed I would never make a film that would not reflect properly on my father's name.

I never made a movie I would not take my family to see.

I look at all the ingredients of a film and say, 'Is this a positive thing that I'm putting into the world? Is there honor and respect in the way the story is being told about them? And would they approve of that?'

I'll never kick dogs, I'll never hurt a child, I'll never slap a woman - three things I won't do on film.

Film is the manipulative medium par excellence. When you think back on the history of film and the 20th century, you see the propaganda that's been made. So there are moral demands on the director to treat the spectators as seriously as he or she takes himself and not to see them merely as victims that can be manipulated to whatever ends they have.

I've always tried to be aware of what I say in my films, because all of us who make motion pictures are teachers - teachers with very loud voices.

The ethos of most films is that you make a film, you exploit the community, you exploit the environment, and it's OK because you made a great film, you know?

You have these relationships with people that you care about, but I also try to stick to my job as filmmaker and be fair and truthful about what I saw and my experience of the people, hopefully informed by a deep understanding of them.

When I did 'Babe' I wanted to talk about animal rights without going through some convoluted justifications about using animal products.

My goal has been to learn how to get movies made without losing sight of the reasons I began. I have had to learn to recognize the insidious nature of the beast without becoming one.

I read someplace that I used to make B-pictures. Hell, they were a lot farther down the alphabet than that . . . but not as far down as R and X. I think any man who makes an X-rated picture ought to be made to take his own daughter to see it.

Nobody in TV makes as much money as Robert Redford, who likes to make movies for several million dollars only on the condition that they contain some sort of social message. I cannot take very seriously a social message delivered by an actor who is paid nine million dollars to deliver it, and who charges you five dollars to see it.

I never really feel wrong while making movies. I know myself, and I know that my intentions are pure and I'm on the side of righteousness.

I will only make pictures that I won't be ashamed to have my children see.

Film is such a powerful medium. It's like a weapon and I think you have a duty to self-censor.

I am in competition only with my father and my uncle (Mukesh Bhatt) because they taught me what I know today. I only believe in making movies with integrity.

I am informed that 5,000 cockroaches were used in the filming of Joe's Apartment. That depresses me, but not as much as the news that none of them were harmed during the production.

Don't use your film for ugly purpose.

Just based on my own family and background, I would not be in a film that would exploit or sensationalize anyone.

It's probably the last thing you think about when you're making a film is other people's problems. You're thinking about your problem, which is making the movie. But you do have a responsibility. You can't mess around with people's emotions.

I never maligned the sanctity of cinema in my career. I always selected themes and made films with the fervent hope that they will never demoralise viewers.