The key to making films is to have something to say. Something that is distinctive, preferably never seen before, and something that only you can bring.

So first, engage with the world, be unafraid of getting educated. Have something to say, feel about something that should possess you enough for this hard-knocking journey that is about to await you of making cinema.

And then, apply yourself in a very focused way to identifying your idea. Identifying –importantly—your creative partnerships. Cherish them, respect them. Get the idea to become slowly, but surely, a reality.

And then, wherever the knowledge comes from, go and take it. And go and find that team of people that you might need to make that idea come alive.

What I wish for you is to question what is handed to you as truth. To grapple with the fundamental questions, in cinema and in life, of where we belong, what we stand for, and what we matter.

So go out, tell your story. Tell it as best as you can without apology. Be rigorous with yourself. And remember that if you don't tell your own story, no one else will. And if they will, it will never be as good as you telling your own story.