I went to University College London and read English literature, then realised if you were interested in story and narrative, film was the way to go.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I considered going to film school; I took a course in film and was very interested in filmmaking as well as film writing.
Most of my films have been documentaries, but I'm also very interested in narrative filmmaking.
I went to study English for two reasons. Principally because when I was in university, studying drama wasn't considered an option. You couldn't get a degree course for it. And so many plays and things that I was interested in landed themselves in a broader spectrum of literature.
Once I got into college, I discovered literature - in particular, multicultural literature. I just started to understand the power of story and narrative, and you know, like anyone else, I kind of wanted to do it, too.
I had passed through the entire British education system studying literature, culminating in three years of reading English at Oxford, and they'd never told me about something as basic as the importance of point of view in fiction!
I was attracted to filmmaking in college because of my love of storytelling. You can have such an impact and reach a broader audience than conventional journalism.
Film is our literature, so we should tell stories that are apropos of our culture, in that we can learn something about ourselves.
I was supposed to go to drama school and then go to New York and do theatre. But I grew up on all those fabulous movies and had read all the bold Hollywood books, and I thought I just had to take a look.
Directing a film was something I was yearning to do. I always wanted to see if I had the capacity to be a good storyteller.
I started as a journalist for magazines in New York City, so it was always storytelling. And moving into movies was a natural transition.