Quotes from Lee Isaac Chung

I filmed my first narrative feature in 2006, a story set in Rwanda called 'Munyurangabo.'

'Lucky Life' is my second narrative film. I worked on the idea for 'Lucky Life' while in Rwanda for my first film.

I like the idea of all of us looking at the world with less of an emphasis on national borders and with more of an emphasis on shared humanity.

I think we just have to be mindful of what that definition of an American dream is. I think we are faced with a lot of definitions of that that are, frankly, unhealthy.

What I noticed is that the lens from which people want to look at 'Minari' is just from that Asian-American angle. And I think that can end up being very frustrating. Because the craft of the film, and this film itself, is meant to embody a lot of different things.

For a struggling filmmaker running low on ideas, public domain is all we have for adapting books.

I didn't set out to win an Oscar, of course, but to be in this conversation, it's somehow an honour and a strange life experience as well.

The single most eye-opening experience for me and what propelled me to become a filmmaker was that I started to see films from other countries.

I grew up feeling like the main obstacles that we were trying to overcome had more to do with how we survive together as a family, and less to do with external relationships that we had with the community.

I want people to know that I am not an overnight success, if only to encourage the people who don't feel that they are being successful.

I think the vast majority of us in this country hunger for more unity and hospitality, and we all share and shoulder the burden of hard work to build that.

As a kid... there's a veil of separation between you and your dad, especially when you have a dad who's under a lot of stress.

'Minari' was only eligible for the best foreign language film category due to the HFPA rules on language, so the film was submitted to meet these rules; there was no choice involved in the matter.

My dad told me that he came to the U.S. because of watching Hollywood movies. So the American Dream for him was based on what you see in films.

I grew up watching films of predominantly white families speaking in English, and that this represented the American experience.

There was never a point where I thought, 'I'm going to do something Asian American.'

I know, it's disturbing that gentle looking people have such violence, but I believe we all have a penchant for violence in us.

I'm not much of a visionary guy when it comes to figuring out how to go about my career.

The films that excite me most tend to be the films that seem like voices that we haven't heard of before.

I was just making movies to make movies. I was so full of anxiety about becoming a filmmaker that I kind of lost the idea of why I was doing it.