You mentioned that Gus Van Sant was one of the visitors to your school. Some people say his use of long takes was directly influenced by your work.
Yes, he came to Sarajevo three times. Long takes… you can do it, everybody can do it. It’s not a big deal.
Go and shoot something with your phone and find your own way and that’s all. Who cares? Fuck off this shitty film industry. Fuck all those guys. Fuck off the market. Because now you have a different way and the technology is different. Everything is different. You don’t need money now to do the perfect movie. Let’s say “perfect motion picture.” For me, this digital stuff is not the film. It is a motion picture, but different. You can express yourself. You can express your emotions. You can say everything.
At her book talk, Annie Leibovitz said that she really loves taking pictures on her phone and she thinks that phones have some pretty high quality cameras.
If people like Tarr and Leibovitz are signing off on shooting pictures and films on a phone camera, that's a pretty big sign of confidence. It's pretty exciting that photography and film have become so democratized.