Do you remember much of the making of Feelings? Did you enjoy it?

Of course I remember. I don't think anyone really could have enjoyed it because it was so cold, I think the coldest day of the year, sub-zero temperatures. So I don't think anyone was having a lot of fun.

Feelings has a Buster Keaton-esque feeling about it, a sense of the cruelty of life. Did a lot of your shorts feature this kind of funny sad quality?

Oh well� I'd hate to characterise my work, my films. But, I suppose they could all be categorised in some sense as sad comedies.

Did you enjoy making shorts at film school? Did you learn a lot from them?

Again� it was all very stressful. But I certainly did have a good time at film school. Even though I probably complained everyday I was there about what a rip off, and what a horrible school it was. I don't think I'd have become a filmmaker had I not gone. Everything is just a bunch of experience. The point is, if I hadn't gone to the film school I don't know that I ever would have it in me to get a camera crew together to actually make a short film, to make any film. The point of going to film school for someone like me, because I didn't have the confidence, school forced me to go out and make film, to put some stuff out on celluloid.

Do you watch many shorts?

I very seldom see shorts. Very seldom. Perhaps, occasionally there might be situations when they precede a feature but� very few I'm afraid.

What is your next project?

I'm just waiting to solidify the financing right now. Everything's set, except for the money. A certain amount of the money, but not all of it is set. I hope that that will come together, very, very soon.

Where you surprised, after the awards and high praise your films had received, that you had to fund Palindromes with your own money?

I never bother correcting what's out there: I did put some money into it, but I certainly didn't fund the whole thing myself. You just do what you have to do to get things made. You know I live in a country where there are no government subsidies and so it its very difficult for a filmmaker to make a career as a filmmaker. It's difficult enough to make one film independently � but to actually make a career� very few people do it because there is no safety net. A lot of European filmmakers could never make these careers if they were American citizens; it's just not been set up in that way here.

Do you feel vindicated by the end results of Palindromes?

I wasn't trying to vindicate myself of anything! I was just trying to make a movie that I wanted to make, I make the movie that I feel I need to make, and I hope for the best. It's always a mystery; no one knows how a movie is going to be received. But I was able to get it together.

Did you receive much unwanted attention from anti-abortionist groups after Palindromes?

I think I was too low on the radar to be really picked up seriously by them. If the movie was really a money maker then of course it would be a different story, but a movie like mine I really don't think it's worth their time and effort.

Do you think America is more or less open to discussion of serious topics in film than it was when you first started out?

Serious subjects are out there and discussed every day. The level of the discussion is another story. I think certainly what's happened over the last 10 years, I think 9/11 has politicized filmmakers in ways they might not have been before.

Do you think the fact that people often call you an agent provocateur is a way of sidestepping the fact the issues you tackle are not necessarily that controversial and are more everyday that they would like to admit?

Oh well, look � if I'm called an "agent provocateur" � first of all I don't see it as a terrible thing. But, when I go to the movies my aim is to be provoked, I am to be stimulated, and prodded, and moved in ways in that will heighten the film going experience for me. But the implication that I'm out to shock people for shocks sake, I think I would certainly defend myself on that count. I think if you're looking for a sensationalist experience you'll be disappointed with my work.