Andrew Haigh

SXSW can feel very male, very straight, and very white, and though it's a great festival, when you have a film that's different, it's hard to find your place.

I think the gay community is made up of so many little different things, different parts, different people... I think that can be quite hard for people. You think you've found your tribe, but actually, that isn't your tribe, and then you have to keep searching for what kind of makes sense.

In the early stages of being out, you meet all these people from all kinds of backgrounds, and the one thing you have in common is you're all gay, but then you start to realise how different your experiences actually are.

People don't think the struggles gay people have are worth talking about because everyone's decided that we're all equals now. Those struggles are much more subtle now. But the weight of being different does carry on.

I'm happy to do gay material, and I'm gay, and I'm not embarrassed about it, but it's nice not being limited to only doing gay material.

It's always very important that you can completely disagree with someone, but it doesn't fundamentally mean that they are bad people.

There have been some good British gay films.

We can all understand that feeling of being alone in the world trying to find ways to not be alone.

I like going to a new environment with open eyes.

For me, it's very important that shows about gay people are messy and complicated and are truthful about what we do.

I don't believe in 'happy ever after' at all as a concept.

It fails everybody, pretty much, the American Dream, but people are driven by it. I don't think we're driven by the same sense of hope in Europe. We're driven by pessimism more.