Quotes from Zal Batmanglij

I like how collaborative and cult-like filmmaking is. It's really family-oriented, tribe-oriented.

A novel is both a story and a piece of writing. A movie is a story and a piece of filmmaking.

I think it's really important that you don't get caught up in the way the filmmaking community isolates you and the way your life ends up being.

The best dumpster meal I has was the first one I had.

Even in 'The OA,' we had to follow Guild requirements and put 'directed by' and the credits, and I'm embarrassed to put my name every time. I mean, who cares. Look it up on the Internet if you want to know who made it.

I think we're really hungry for family in America, especially when I feel like people are really pulled apart from their families.

When I was 17, I grew from being something like 5'2'' to 6 foot - I grew a lot - and I don't remember growing... I feel like the same thing is true of writing. You're waiting for Santa Claus to come down the chimney, but you just fall asleep at some point, and then the magic happens.

Marvel's storytelling is much wilder than 'The OA's,' but no one talks about that.

Claustrophobia is a theme that I feel is really rife in 'Sound of my Voice' and struggling to come up for air from that feeling.

We lived on anarchist farms, squatted in the inner city, and hopped rail cars. We wanted to see how other young people were creating meaning from their lives.

I think we have to go through a lot of rituals in order to fill the gap of meaning in our lives.

A good story isn't preachy; a good story is always entertaining.

Group think and groups in general allow you to more fully give yourself to something other than yourself and your betterment - to feel a sense of belonging. Now is this a good thing? I don't know, but it's something that is longed for, at least by me.

At AFI, you make three cycle films your first year, and then you make a thesis film your second year, and I watched Darren Aronofsky's cycle films and was blown away - there was a young Lucy Liu, who was just part of that generation. And I just wanted to be part of that tradition.

I went to graduate school for directing at AFI in L.A., and I wanted to be a director.

Especially in America, when you move away from home, sometimes you get disconnected with your grandparents, your friends you grew up with.

The first time I ever tried edamame, I thought it was gross. I didn't understand the hairy skin. It didn't taste good to me. Now I scarf down a bowl of edamame when I sit down at a restaurant, and I don't think twice about it.

I don't think we set out to make 'The East' in order to necessarily change people's hearts; I don't know how much movies actually change people's hearts. We wanted to make something that was thrilling and got you to thinking.

'The Terminator' is grounded in so much realism. It's again a story that centers around a woman that isn't a 'woman's picture' necessarily. I found it really thrilling, both 'Terminator 1' and '2.' When you watch it it's such fine storytelling.

I think that the campaign that Fox Searchlight has thrown for 'Sound of My Voice' honors the film's roots and the film's integrity, and I don't think it overwhelms the film at all.

I think if there's anything 2016 has taught me, it's that we have a real hard time with women in our society; we have a hard time with the feminine.

A film set is all about hierarchy, but I always like to think about the circus. In the circus, there's this real sense of tribalism, and they're all on the road together. I don't think the ring leader is more important than the clown. They all work together, and I think that I felt that on 'The East.'

I love watching 'House of Cards.'

That's the beauty of filmmaking: it's extremely humbling because you do it all over again all the time.