London, June 20 (IANS) Actress-director Jodie Foster says she is only attracted to direct those films which she can relate to in some way.

"In some ways the movies I direct have to be the story of my life. My first, 'Little Man Tate', is about a child prodigy, and my second, 'Home for the Holidays', was about being in the 30s," femalefirst.co.uk quoted the 48-year-old as saying.

She also says working on films about challenging subjects help her deal with her own problems better. Her current fascination is depression, a subject she explores in her latest movie "The Beaver".

"I think depression is fascinating, there was a lot of depression in my family. Making movies about people in spiritual crises helps me to come to terms with my own spiritual crisis. My way of organising my feelings is to make movies out of them and see problems from all points of view," she said.

"'The Beaver' is about a middle-aged man. In a way, it's a trilogy," she added.