"Nâ Hawa is an icon. She's still alive, she's younger than Nina Simone. For me, she's an example because she's one of those artists who started to push the female voice in Malian music. When I watched her videos when she was super famous in the past, I could never imagine that I could live like her. She's got the blues too. She never knew her mum, she passed away when she was giving birth to her. She always sang about tragic things but from her I realised that you can sing about your problems without complaining. She never complains, but she tells you her story. She was like a philosopher. She talks about normal life, how you can love each other, how you can live in peace, even if you've had bad experiences. She's a mum to me, in terms of writing. She always wrote about women, children, society, but with some beautiful melodies."

"The lack of interest in Fassbinder’s work depresses the hell out of me. For me, he is the birth of the new. His high-concept stories, told in bold dramatic strokes and with vibrant colors, teach us about everything from class and racial politics to family responsibility and true love. His theatricality comes out of the Brecht mold, but it is new, it is melodramatic and involving and funny, often bitter and ironic, always with good humor, but, for me anyway, never cynical. He wears his heart and soul on his sleeve. He traverses the taboo, attacks intolerance, and loves his characters so much, even if at first they appear totally unappealing. Fassbinder is an original, and Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is one of his best films, made on the run like so many of his others. The world would be a better place if more people embraced movies like this one."