Sally Potter on Yes

Where did the title come from - why 'Yes'?

It's the last word of James Joyce's Ulysses, which was possibly the most influential work of literature ever to explore what the inside of people's head really sounds like - the stream of consciousness, the river of thought. But that wasn't the first reason I chose it, I think it's maybe the most beautiful word in the English languge, the most positive, the most affirmative obviously. Even when you say it, it kind of relaxes your body and makes you think that things are possible, whereas when you say the word 'no', your body kind of contracts and things become somehow not possible.

What was your greatest personal investment in 'Yes'?

I felt really passionate about doing the film from the outset, and in a rather different way that I felt about my other films. Passion is a word that people use often when talking about their relationship with their work, partly because filmmaking is so demanding, but it felt like a necessary film - if I can put it that way - because it came out after the events of 9/11. Into that climate of such fear, terror, hatred, stereotyping, and a feeling that the end of the world was approaching, I felt the necessity to make a contribution that flowed in the opposite direction, towards hope, towards building bridges between East and West.

Next page • "Did I want it delivered like Shakespeare, or like reading a poem?"