Thatcher’s Britain, and a drifting camera moving through the streets like a drunk bee. I’m mostly inspired by the intensity of the monologues – people speak like they’re drowning.

A docu-fiction that really slaps. A real casting call for a film becomes the film itself and hundreds of people show up to audition. A meditation on identity and the longing to be seen. Compliments Kiarostami’s ‘Close-Up’ few years earlier.

A man lists his likes and dislikes like a child. Its emotional simplicity is so profound. Proof that there’s no need for expensive budgets to create a visual style and that technique is a spectacle that can only take you so far.

It’s psychedelic and nonlinear, mystic and absurd. I struggle to find many references for surreal Indian cinema typically, and this is my favourite. My plan is to create more!

Feels like watching back a memory. Static shots, stark contrast, dialogue as incantation. Time barely moves. Pedro Costa is always a big reference for composition and lighting for me.

A portrait of a man who ferries along the Ganges in Varanasi, India. His monologues are so profound. He kind of holds a mystic role – like the ferryman on the River Styx. A few years ago, my father found him again and had a long conversation.

Another lesson in simplicity. Glazer never forces meaning down your throat, he trusts that you can meet him there.

Fellini is a huge inspiration for lighting, colour, and of course, casting. The whole thing is basically one big red-gold hallucination.

The scale… the timing, the geometry of the sets are incredible. A perfect comedy.