Canadian Women Film Directors Database
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Sarah Polley

Country: Canada
Born: 1979

Films directed by Sarah Polley

Quotes by Sarah Polley

"I had no idea, until [I started writing and directing short films], how little respect I had been shown as an actor. Now there were no assistant directors trying to cajole me into sitting on their laps, no groups of men standing around to assess how I looked in a particular piece of clothing. I could decide what I felt was important to say, how to film a woman, without her sexuality being a central focus without context."
-- Sarah Polley (source)

"I think the key to directing is having the courage to admit what you don't know, to not try to hide your weaknesses and to find collaborators who you can trust enough to be honest with about those deficiencies."
-- Sarah Polley (source)

"I think the uncertainty of a basic objective truth is in my films, and that's part of me as a Canadian. That's a cultural thing that has been handed down to me. That there's not one truth that everyone must obey, but that there are different realities for everyone. That other perspectives matter and can be challenging and difficult to deal with, but cannot be dismissed. And I do think that at its best, that's what Canada is."
-- Sarah Polley (source)

"In a lot of ways, being an actor is the worst training you could possibly have for being a director. You've been in this environment your whole life, so you think you know it. But 90 per cent of everyone's job on a set, you soon find out, is to protect the actors from any pertinent information. It's not like you're being manipulative or secretive. But they have to go somewhere profound and do something quite emotional. You're not going to mention the weather is screwed and you have to condense three-day scenes into half a day and they better get it right or we're all going to hell."
-- Sarah Polley (source)

"Screenwriting is my favourite part of the filmmaking process because everything is still possible and not mitigated by the exigencies of production. I find it to be a joyful process as well as agonizingly lonely. It is so magical, later, to have dozens of extremely talented people make those ideas you've had alone in a quiet room become tangible and real."
-- Sarah Polley (source)

"Sometimes when you say, 'I want to be collaborative,' people assume that means you don't have a vision. But collaboration is my vision. My vision is, 'My process looks different from the way most men I've worked with operate.' It's a confident process of wanting people's voices to be heard and credited. It's a feminist process. I don't have to act like all the dudes I hated working with."
-- Sarah Polley (source)

"We're still at a point where women [directors] aren't allowed to be mad visionaries. We have to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that we're responsible, that we can handle it, that we've got all our ducks in a row . . . most women who direct always come in on budget, always come in on schedule, and if they were wild and irresponsible it would not be put down to brilliance, but to a general flakiness."
-- Sarah Polley (source)

"When you're writing a screenplay, you're really writing a blueprint for something that's a jumping off point. The way I make films, I'm not a single vision person. I'm very dependent on intense collaboration so a script is a place to begin in terms of conversations with others."
-- Sarah Polley (source)

Quote about Sarah Polley

"[Sarah] Polley's directing career is short but impressive. Her three films demonstrate an intense interest in the lives of women, the complications of public and private selves, the impermanence of relationships and the strength required to keep a family—traditional or not—together. All of those will come in handy in Women Talking, a movie Polley is about to begin shooting."
-- Chris Hewitt (source)

For QUOTES about a specific film by Sarah Polley, please see:   I Shout Love    Away from Her    Take This Waltz    Stories We Tell    Women Talking   

Notes about Sarah Polley

(sources)

Bibliography for Sarah Polley

Section 1: Publications by Sarah Polley

Section 2: Publications about Sarah Polley

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Documentaries

Web Sites

Section 3: Publications about the Films of Sarah Polley

I Shout Love (2001)

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Away from Her (2006)  (also known as: "An ihrer Seite", "Daleko od niej", "Egyre távolabb", "Kaukana poissa", "Lejos de ella", "Loin d'elle", "Longe Dela", "Lontano da lei")

Book Chapters

Brief Sections of Books

Journal Articles

Brief Sections of Journal Articles

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Take This Waltz (2011)  (also known as: "Bu Dans Senin", "Entre o Amor e a Paixão", "Notas de Amor", "Take This Waltz: Une histoire d'amour", "Volt egy tánc")

Book Chapters

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Stories We Tell (2012)  (also known as: "Apáim története", "Histórias que Contamos", "Historie rodzinne", "Les histoires qu'on raconte")

Book Chapters

Brief Sections of Books

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Women Talking (2022)  (also known as: "A Voz das Mulheres", "Ce qu'elles disent", "Die Aussprache", "Ellas hablan", "Entre Mulheres")

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Archival Collections

This archival institution has holdings related to Sarah Polley or her films:


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