We spoke before the interview about the city, Ireland, sports, and politics. He was incredibly humble and detached from Hollywood pretension, he noted that most of his time he has spent seeing other movies, he mentioned this during our interview. Most directors would not dare to draw attention to other director's work while promoting their own. Generally, the film industry is obsessed with image and hype. This festival should serve as a reminder that film is still an art, and that it should be evaluated by its meaning and message, more than its special effects.
Dialogue represents emotions, while effects represent machinery.
Too often in the arts, the business drives the product, commercialism over content. The ANTZ showing at the festival was its world premiere. Unlike previous animated features, the story and it's casting of Woody Allen as the lead character is somewhat daring.