I usually give three names instead of one: Denis Villeneuve, Guillermo del Toro, and David Lynch. It feels like each of them represents a different side of what I love about film. Villeneuve is all about the physical world—space, scale, and atmosphere. Del Toro is the emotional one, finding warmth and heartbreak in the most unlikely places. Lynch is the psychological side, making films that feel more like dreams or memories than "straightforward" stories. Between the three of them, it's pretty much everything I look for in cinema.

Little Island, Pier 55 at Hudson River Park, Hudson River Greenway, New York.

I've been lucky enough to visit so many cities and countries, but this is still my favorite place in the world. I don't think I've ever found another park with architecture quite like it. The way it's built over the river, the concrete "tulips," the winding paths, the different elevations, and how the gardens are worked into all of it make it feel completely unlike anywhere else. Malta is a close second tho.

Single. Why?

I chose In the Mood for Love (2000, dir. Wong Kar-wai), Persona (1966, dir. Ingmar Bergman), and The Seventh Seal (1957, dir. Ingmar Bergman). I couldn't narrow it down to just one. In the Mood for Love is one of the most visually influential and culturally defining films ever made, while Persona and The Seventh Seal completely changed the way cinema explores the inner self, identity, faith, mortality, and the human condition. They each earned that spot for different reasons.