Now, I don’t know whether a film can change the world, but I know that it starts – I know the power of it – I know that it starts people thinking about how to change the world. Jehane Noujaim Read Quote
I used to do volunteer work in poor areas of Cairo, and people would gather their money together to get a satellite dish. You’d see them huddling around and for the first time seeing issues being debated on TV that had never been talked about before. And that is the biggest promoter of democracy you could possibly have. Jehane Noujaim Read Quote
There are different opinions across the Middle East of Al-Jazeera. They’ve been kicked out of Egypt and Jordan and then let back in; they’ve been totally banned from Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Syria. Jehane Noujaim Read Quote
When I hear the words ‘activist filmmaking,’ I think of somebody who’s an activist, who wants to prove a particular point. Jehane Noujaim Read Quote
I have actually been very fortunate to be able to make films on my own credit card without having huge funders behind me dictating how the story should be told. Jehane Noujaim Read Quote
If you can laugh with somebody and relate to somebody, it becomes harder to dehumanize them. I think that most of what we are constantly bombarded with in terms of media leads you to a creation of ‘the Other’ and a dehumanization of ‘the Other,’ and it’s very much an us-versus-them conversation. Jehane Noujaim Read Quote
Traveling around the world during the World Cup in 2006, I was thinking, ‘Wow, this is such an incredible and global event.’ Jehane Noujaim Read Quote
In making films, I’m constantly looking for people who are in conflict and who are going to surprise you and challenge you. Jehane Noujaim Read Quote
There are these very poor communities on the outskirts of Cairo called Mokattam, where a lot of the garbage collectors live. I used to volunteer there, doing health and education work when I was younger and living in Egypt. Jehane Noujaim Read Quote
