Kim Longinotto quotes:

I'm not generalizing anymore about men and women, because I think these old terms of "masculine" and "feminine" are going very fast with the rise of transgender rights that are questioning what all these categories are.

There's no point in making something if you're not falling in love with the people you're filming and you want them to really enjoy you being around. It would be weird if, when you're making a film, you don't think it's going to be the best ever or the worst ever - I guess it goes from one feeling to another.

I try to make films where the audience forgets the filmmaking and gets engrossed in the story as it unfolds. I don't want them to ever feel bored, or that they're being told what to think, or to feel depressed. I don't like films about victims - I want to celebrate brave survivors like Brenda and the wonderful women in the film.

The biggest misconception about me is perhaps that I film all the time and film everything randomly. The truth is I film very little and always when something excites me and seems to mean something for the film.

I don't have any advice at all. I think we all make the films that reflect the kind of people we are; we all make such different films. There's not just one way of doing it.

I don't want the people I'm with on this journey to feel like I'm filming them all the time. I don't want them to constantly feel as though they're being watched. So I will have the camera ready at all times, but I will only film when something is really worth filming. Those are the moments when the person being filmed is usually not aware of it.

I want every scene to feel electric and I try to finish the filming period with a clear trajectory: a beginning, a middle, and hopefully an end.I hate "fly on the wall." It infers that I don't relate to the people we're with and that I don't get affected by events. I like it when people talk to me. I never say things like "Don't look at the camera" - how bossy!

People want black and white answers, but it's not one thing or another. I think the only way we're going to make good things is to inspire people and make them feel as though what they're watching is real.

It's always scary making a film as I never set anything up or ask anyone to do anything, so I worry that we'll find a story. I have to trust that a film will come out of the journey we embark on. I have many, many sleepless nights.