I didn't grow up watching film but as a Ukrainian-American, music and stories and dance are crucial.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
European films were what it was about for me - the sensations I needed, the depth, the storytelling, the characters, the directors, and the freedom that you can't really find in American films.
Growing up, I just loved movies. It was how I saw the world, which I wanted to learn more about.
I grew up within Italian-American neighborhoods, everybody was coming into the house all the time, kids running around, that sort of stuff, so when I finally got into my own area, so to speak, to make films, I still carried on.
I was influenced by European movies, old Fellini, old Kurosawa - any sort of foreign film.
When I was a kid, my daily routine was playing make-believe, and I kind of created these stories throughout the day. And when it came time to go to preschool, my English wasn't really so great because my mother wanted me to learn Ukrainian, so she signed me up for these children's theater groups.
I've been mostly influenced by experiences in the theater growing up.
I grew up watching films. Film has been part of my life since I was a child.
Ironically, I grew up watching Indian movies as a kid in Russia. I am quite familiar with Bollywood. I grew up watching 'Disco Dancer;' I watched it some 20 times as a kid.
I love European movies and I kind of grew up on European films.
I loved American filmmakers when I was growing up. I didn't get to film school or anything. I was a very bad student. I just devoured film, but there was a point in my teens when I started to run a little film society.