"A film that absolutely nails the experience of really wanting to perform – that feeling that you’re weird to do so when you’re not being encouraged – and of music being a brilliant form of escape. Even though I’m not working-class, the story described a world and an attitude to women I knew well. It’s also about finding your identity through music, how you can find your own voice through singing other people’s songs. I used to do that myself as a child, trying to become Tina Turner by singing Private Dancer!"

"There are a number of books which I could go back and read... the other is A Confederacy Of Dunces (by John Kennedy Toole). On his blog: Watching Withnail And I reminded me of one of my favourite books, A Confederacy Of Dunces, written by John Kennedy Toole. Again a piece of work that I find supremely funny and tragic. Absolutely brilliant. A must read, but again I don’t know how many of you will like it. Have read the book twice and plan to read it once every couple years"

"I found this book interesting, uncomfortably informative, addictive and necessary. “Looking for Palestine” is a memoir/coming-of-age by the young Najla Said, an actress, writer and daughter of the brilliant Edward Said (a Columbia professor and prominent advocate of Palestine independence), and Mariam Said (artist, writer and activist). I’ve seen Najla’s play of the same name, but her book took me even further into this young New Yorker’s quest to make some sense of all of her worlds. If your goal is to be immersed and moved, this is it."

"I really like how Aki Kaurismäki manages to create in the viewer such a strong sense of warmth and emotional involvement by subtracting the classical elements that one would associate with that expression of feeling. He manages to capture mankind in a brilliant way with just one shot or one gesture that opens an entire backstory of a character. He can be very serious without taking himself seriously. What is important in his films is that he believes in the strength of images and doesn’t see the need to add and add and add."

"Once Around is a beautiful movie. And it was funny, and it was moving, and it was great. The story itself, which is a true story, is such a remarkable — simple, but not simple — story about a woman who falls in love with a guy who is kind of socially unacceptable. He’s loud, and her family just thinks he’s chalk on a blackboard. It’s how they come to love him. Holly Hunter is fantastic. It’s actually quite a brilliant movie, and I’ve always been extremely proud of it."

"Directors going independent to make precisely the film they want was not begun — as we sometimes think — by the latterday Johns (Cassavetes and Sayles). After World War Two John Ford formed an indie with the legendary producer (war hero also) Merian C. Cooper: Wagon Master was the lovely result, a film that seems like folk art. The stirring score and brilliant diagonals of Ford’s composition greatly inspired us in the Barcelona edit room — though I’m not sure if any trace of that influence could be found in our film."

"Preston Sturges — Lady Eve, with Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck, and that’s just a brilliant film. I could have had any number of Preston Sturges films. He’s the funniest director I think. When I was working with Bridget Fonda, we were talking — we were mucking about doing double-takes and she said, “My grandfather did a quadruple take in the Lady Eve.” I thought, “Your grandfather? Oh, your grandfather! Oh, you mean Henry Fonda. Oh, for God’s sake.” So I went back and she’s right. He does a quadruple take."

"This was a BBC Omnibus drama about a young composer from Yorkshire, Eric Fenby, in the late 1920s. He reads that the composer Delius, also from Yorkshire, is now blind, partly paralysed and can no longer compose, with work left unfinished. Fenby manages to help him deliver those last works. It’s an elegiac film about the painful process of creating music and the end of a creative life. It’s very emotional, unsettling and moving. Delius is an incredibly tragic figure, both fragile and brutal. Russell was brilliant at creating images to accompany music."

"This has always been my favorite Godard film. The first time I watched it, I was heartbroken because I thought my DVD was defective: the sound kept cutting out. In researching further I learned I was the fool—Godard was playing with sound design. It was in a way I had never heard before. His use of long camera pans with text explaining what our heroes think but would never say is absolutely brilliant. Between Anna Karina, her red tights, and the celebration of American musicals, it manages to sum up all my favorite things."