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" I came from a very poor family. And I was able to rise up and actually win an Academy Award. And if I can do it, then any kid can do it. "

Roger Ross Williams

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" Film has to reflect the real world. "

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" All racism is wrong, and denying that it exists does not make it go away. "

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" I escaped my destiny. The odds were that I would end up in prison, but I didn't. "

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" While the documentary community is way ahead of Hollywood, it is still nowhere near where it needs to be. Filmmakers of color rarely get hired by the powerful production companies, and they are not getting supported enough by broadcasters and funders to tell their own stories. "

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" Hollywood has to diversify. "

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" While shooting in Uganda in 2011, the conservative evangelical pastors I was filming - the most ardent supporters of the country's now infamous Anti-Homosexuality Bill - discovered that I myself am gay. "

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" I made a film about a person living with a disability. Those kinds of films are often about the disability, not who a person is. "

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" The relationship between a director and an editor in documentaries is so important. "

Roger Ross Williams

" Imagine that you're a gay man, and you're spending all your time with people who believe you are possessed by the devil. Or, in the case of a lot of Ugandans, with people who believe you should be killed. Someone told me once that I'm worse than a dog, I'm the scum of the earth, so for me, it was draining. "

Roger Ross Williams

" When I was in high school, I felt totally alienated from the world, but I loved movies. They were my escape, but coming from a disadvantaged community, I never knew that filmmaking was an option for me. A program like School of Doc would have been a game-changer. "

Roger Ross Williams

" The Academy just reflects Hollywood. And until we break those barriers, until we have African-American or minority studio executives, 'til we have people who are greenlighting movies with African-American actors - the Academy is not going to change until Hollywood changes, so we have to start with Hollywood. "

Roger Ross Williams

" I didn't have a lot of exposure to films as a kid, and I never went to the cinema. I had a single mom who just planted me in front of the television. But while growing up, I lived in my own fantasy world. "

Roger Ross Williams

" All too often, white documentary filmmakers are the ones telling the stories of people of color. "

Roger Ross Williams

" I can't believe that I'm sitting in meetings with Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Annette Bening. I want to take on that responsibility to represent all the Rogers out there who don't have a seat at the table. People of colour were not at the table, and now I am there, I want to change things. "

Roger Ross Williams

" I will always make films that champion outsiders, because I still feel like one, even though I'm now governor of the documentary branch of the Academy. "

Roger Ross Williams

" When I decided to make 'Blackface,' a short film about Black Pete, I had little knowledge of the giant cesspool of hate I was about to dive into. I didn't realize how popular and passionate many white Dutch are about a figure that they connect to fond memories from their childhood. "

Roger Ross Williams

" I had my own Land of Lost Sidekicks, where I pretended I lived in Paris with my best friend, a little cowboy based on a Marky Maypo doll. "

Roger Ross Williams

" I had kind of a rough childhood, so I created my own reality. "

Roger Ross Williams

" When I visited Africa to make my film 'Music by Prudence,' I was struck by how intensely religious and socially conservative Africans were. There was literally a church on every corner. "

Roger Ross Williams

" My father was a religious leader in the community, and my sister is a pastor. "

Roger Ross Williams

" I think we have to work with Hollywood. We have to work in the system and change it. "

Roger Ross Williams

" The establishment wants to connect with people who are like them, and I wasn't. I'm a black gay man from a poor working-class family. Most of the people who look like me are in prison. "

Roger Ross Williams

" Often, films about people with disabilities are from the outside looking in. "

Roger Ross Williams