Lisa Cholodenko

I don't feel like my films are about gender; they are about identity - but a different slant on identity.

I don't know if my films are about women in a kind of frolicking - here's a grab bag of women's issues. They are about women of substance with very particular stories.

In May 2006, I had our son, Calder. I spent the next couple of years learning how to be a mom.

In June 2002, I had just finished 'Laurel Canyon' and decided to move back to Los Angeles after nearly a decade in New York. Post-9/11 New York felt different.

This whole Oscar thing is so political. It's about how much a film grosses, and who's in it, and how well it has been promoted.

Boundaries get blurry and identities can get lost easily. It's easy to take your partner for granted.

Wendy and I both wanted kids, but since we were pushing 40, the clock was ticking.

Great actors help. Every project is different. Sometimes it's completely open, and I've been able to cast who I've wanted. And then sometimes people want a certain kind of actor.

I have enjoyed writing my own stuff, and it's been a privilege to be able to scrap some money together to be able to make films from my own scripts.

I had a great love affair in high school and let myself have that love affair and tried to keep it to myself.

I had pretty cool parents. Still do.

I feel like I've been observed as an individual more than a gay person, or as a filmmaker with a certain point of view rather than a lesbian filmmaker with a gay point of view.