Your films are often existential in nature. What role has existentialism played in your work?
When I was young I read Sartre and other [existentialist] books that made me think about existence. These books affected me. Existentialism made me think about the nonsensical nature of existence, about how we are nothing. It was a very depressing time in my life, I have to say. Now I am able to separate myself and look at it on the intellectual level. But, of course, these things are always impregnated in my films. It’s who I am and it’s how I think — I cannot do it any other way. This is the first time I am mentioning this, because I have never realized how heavily existentialism has influenced my films!

When did you start reading existentialist literature?
When I was seventeen, I packed my things and got a job washing floors on a transatlantic cargo ship, because I wanted to see the world. That trip really marked me. I always say that if you want to write a novel or make a film, go buy a ticket around the world. There wasn’t much to do in the off time, so I just read books, watched movies, smoked hashish. I remember reading Proust, Joyce, Thomas Mann, even Herman Hesse. Reading Siddhartha when I was seventeen just blew my mind. I also read a lot of Cortazar and Borges. In this period my mind and my physical experience expanded incredibly. This is when I discovered existentialist literature, which was forbidden in the Catholic school.