"Roger Ross William’s extraordinary, immersive chronicle of the Apollo Theater affirms that cultural expressions can be and are political action. In a film full of amazing performances, the moment of Billie Holiday singing and performing “Strange Fruit” is so alive, so emotionally open, at once ferocious and calm. Her serenity is profoundly unsettling, and we see not just a genius, but a freedom fighter using her voice as a weapon."

"Roger Ross William’s extraordinary, immersive chronicle of the Apollo Theater affirms that cultural expressions can be and are political action. In a film full of amazing performances, the moment of Billie Holiday singing and performing “Strange Fruit” is so alive, so emotionally open, at once ferocious and calm. Her serenity is profoundly unsettling, and we see not just a genius, but a freedom fighter using her voice as a weapon."

"I watched Serenity before Firefly [the TV series it was based on]. In 2000, binge-viewing wasn’t something that we did; we didn’t have access to that. If you missed a TV series, you just missed it. Or you’d record it on your VHS, right? It was a chore. In 2002 I was more of a country boy; I was always outside. But I like the whole idea of Serenity, the whole world, that outer rim world that we imagine that one day we will be [part of]. I actually felt this wasn’t too far out of our limits. You look at that ship, and it’s a junky old beat up ship. You would think after a thousand years, we will have things like that — that will fly and that will do things like that. We do. We have shuttles and they don’t look too far off [from those]. [That world is] only going to get closer into our grasp."

"Firefly or Serenity (the movie)… that was a really good show. I was really into Buffy and Angel, and when I was done watching them I was really bummed about it being over, and I’m like “I can’t believe I’ve watched them all, what’s next?” My buddy said “Hey, the guy who created that, Joss Whedon, also created a different show, called Firefly.” So I watched that and there were only a few episodes, one season, but they made the movie, which was amazing. I’m just super into sci-fi."

"I never again slept with my former serenity. [The book] determined a new direction for my life from its first line, which today is one of the great devices in world literature: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” [I realized that] it was not necessary to demonstrate facts: it was enough for the author to have written something for it to be true, with no proof other than the power of his talent and the authority of his voice. It was Scheherazade all over again, not in her millenary world where everything was possible but in another irreparable world where everything had already been lost. When I finished reading The Metamorphosis I felt an irresistible longing to live in that alien paradise"