"Altman! Pound for pound probably my favorite filmmaker. I’m deeply in love with Short Cuts as well, but Nashville was my first… and you never forget your first. The world, the performances, the music — all seamless. Altman had a way of saying things without ever showing his hand. His world washes over you — and as it does, your heart fills to bursting."

"Davis is the ultimate prose stylist and this collection of short fiction proved addictive on many a late night. Her narrators are quirky, self-conscious, and sometimes humorously obsessive. Many of the stories are only a page or two long. But within those pages are observations that reveal the precise tics and nuances that make us indelibly who we are."

"I heard a smart person say once that short stories were the ideal form to receive and integrate information. Whether it’s completely true or not, the idea has stayed with me, and if you were trying to argue the point, “I Knew You’d Be Lovely,” could be held up as Exhibit A. Emotionally, no work(s) of fiction ever moved me more thoroughly."

"Did you ever see this movie Headhunters? It’s an insane chase movie that goes very, very, very dark. I just love one of the central driving forces behind the main character is just that he thinks he’s too short. [laughs] I love it when a story, when you really break down someone’s essence, and that is their fatal flaw. It’s just so simple."

"I was thrilled by this short film when I first saw it at the age of seven in a public school gymnasium. I immediately went home and tried to carve my own little “paddle to the sea” (I quickly gave up—carving wood is hard!). The film still holds the same beauty and sense of wonder for me today. A perfect thing."

"After seeing the short version of this a few years back, I was excited to hear about and watch the feature, and it did not disappoint. It’s funny and charming, and has so many surprising bits in it that I’m tickled just thinking about them. This is social satire at its best and I can’t wait to see what these filmmakers do next!"

"Mary Miller is one of my favorite short story writers and in Big World, she writes about flawed, boozy women who make bad decisions and live to tell their tales. The writing in this little collection is atmospheric and claustrophobic and illuminating and lovely. In each story, Miller shows us how the world is as big as it is small."