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Mark Cousins (filmmaker)

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Mark Cousins
Cousins in 2016
Born (1965-05-03) 3 May 1965 (age 60)
Coventry, England
OccupationsFilm director, screenwriter, producer, author
Years active1988–present
Notable workThe Story of Film: An Odyssey

Mark Nathaniel Cousins (born 3 May 1965)[1] is a Northern Irish director and writer. A prolific documentarian, among his best-known works is the 15-hour 2011 documentary The Story of Film: An Odyssey.

Early life and education

[edit]

Born in Coventry, England,[2] Cousins was raised in Northern Ireland, moving with his family from Belfast to Ardglass and then to Antrim, while attending St Louis Grammar School in nearby Ballymena.[3][4] This background is still reflected in his distinctive, lilting Northern Irish accent, which he has said people often recognize before they recognize his face.[5] The twin son of a mixed CatholicProtestant marriage, he has described his upbringing as marked by class awareness and the tensions of The Troubles, recalling having to stay overnight at school during the 1974 Ulster Workers' Council strike “in case those bad people got us.”[4][6]

He has reflected that the timidity he connected with his Northern Irish, working-class upbringing made it hard to consider calling himself a creative person, but that he eventually shed that constraint and grew much freer in claiming a creative identity. At the same time, he has also spoken about how traces of class awareness have stayed with him, describing how certain spaces can still feel marked by middle-class norms.[4][6] His class position and being “a skinny little arty-brainy boy” marked him as a target for bullies, a common experience in the hierarchical environment of the time. The bullying stopped when he was 16, after one of the most popular boys in school told others to leave him alone.[3][6]

He has said that he had stopped believing in God by the time he did his A-levels in 1983. His art teacher, Heather McKelvey, introduced him to modernism and creative expression in a way that offered him “something else to believe in,” opening “a little door in my head which has never closed” and giving him the confidence to see creativity as a lifelong pursuit.[3] He later moved to Scotland to study, escaping the cultural and political limitations of Northern Ireland at the time, and graduated from the University of Stirling in film and the visual arts in the mid-1980s.[3][6][7]

Career

[edit]

Cousins interviewed famous filmmakers such as David Lynch, Martin Scorsese and Roman Polanski in the TV series Scene by Scene. He presented the BBC cult film series Moviedrome from June 1997 to July 2000. He introduced 66 films for the show, including the little-seen Nicolas Roeg film Eureka.[8]

Cousins filming in Kurdisch Iraq, 2003

In the 1990s and 2000s, Cousins interviewed directors, producers, and actors including Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, Tom Hanks, Sean Connery, Brian De Palma, Steve Martin, Lauren Bacall, Jane Russell, Paul Schrader, Bernardo Bertolucci, Kirk Douglas, Jeanne Moreau, Terence Stamp, Jack Lemmon, Janet Leigh and Rod Steiger.

In 2009, Cousins and Tilda Swinton co-founded the "8/2 Foundation".[9] Together they also created a project where they mounted a 33.5-tonne portable cinema on a large truck which was physically pulled through the Scottish Highlands. The travelling independent film festival was featured prominently in a documentary called Cinema is Everywhere. The festival was repeated in 2011.[10][11]

Robert Osborne, Cousins and TCM senior vice president Charles Tabesh in 2014, with the Peabody Award that TCM received for its presentation of The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Cousins as photographed by Tom Webster

Cousins's 2011 film The Story of Film: An Odyssey[12][13] was broadcast on Channel 4 as 15 one-hour television episodes[14] on More4,[12] and later, featured at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.[15] In September 2013, it began to be shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM).[16] Drawing on its exhaustive film library, TCM complemented each episode with relevant short films and feature films ranging from the familiar to the rarely seen. TCM received a 2013 Peabody Award "for its inclusive, uniquely annotated survey of world cinema history".[17][18]

What Is This Film Called Love?, an experimental self-shot travel diary in which Cousins spends three days exploring Mexico City, was a spontaneous project that grew out of exhaustion after completing The Story of Film.[19] It was shot on a £100 camera he got from his long-time partner Gill and its entire budget of £5.8 was spent on laminating the photograph of Sergei Eisenstein, which he addresses throughout the film.[4] Cousins considers it something entirely opposite to his previous work.[20] Guy Lodge in Variety dismissed it as a "whimsical travel diary" and a "fatuous vanity project",[20] while Jessica Kiang in The Playlist described watching it as a deeply personal experience that she found unexpectedly affecting, though acknowledging it is "undoubtedly not for everyone" and could strike others as "pretentious" or "amateurish."[21][22]

A similar production approach was made in Here Be Dragons, which begins as a short trip to Albania to attend the 13th Tirana International Film Festival but pivots to focus on the deteriorating state of the Albanian film archive and the urgency of its preservation. In it Cousins repurposes footage from the archive and intercuts it with that of his own wanderings to highlight the country's cinematic heritage.[19] Produced on a micro-budget of £10,000, it was shot and edited over the course of nine days.[23] Stephen Dalton of The Hollywood Reporter described it as "a fascinating subject squandered with too much directorial self-indulgence",[24] while Time Out called it "another thoughtful meditation on our emotional and political relationship to the screen".[25] Charel Muller of Cineuropa noted that whether viewers enjoy it "depends very much on your personal opinion of Cousins."[23]

6 Desires: DH Lawrence and Sardinia follows Cousins on a road trip through the island inspired by the writer’s 1921 visit, continuing his series of travel-based essay films that mix personal reflection with observations on place and history.[19][26] In Life May Be Cousins turns his usual solo style into a dialogue by structuring it as a series of video letters exchanged between him and Iranian director and actor Mania Akbari.[19] The correspondence contrasts Cousins' travel-based reflections on art and politics with Akbari's accounts of exile and illness, which The Guardian's Andrew Pulver judged "intriguing", noting that its "intensely felt passion" also carried "a sense of self-advertisement."[27]

A Story of Children and Film received positive reviews from multiple critics, with Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian calling it "entirely distinctive, sometimes eccentric, always brilliant".[28][29][30][31][32]

Cousins subsequently wrote and directed I Am Belfast, in which the city is personified by a 10,000-year-old woman. Portions of the film in progress, with a score by Belfast composer David Holmes were screened at the 2014 Belfast Film Festival.[6]

Cousins preparing to destroy the hard-drive with Bigger Than The Shining at the IFFR 2017

Cousins took an axe to his own film Bigger Than The Shining after screening to a live audience at the 2017 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), with the intention of never screening it again; he said private viewing links still existed but urged their holders to delete them.[33]

Cousins is the co-artistic director of Cinema China, The Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams, and A Pilgrimage, with Tilda Swinton. Together with Antonia Bird, Robert Carlyle, and Irvine Welsh, Cousins is a director of the production company 4Way Pictures.[34] Between 2001 and 2011, he wrote for Prospect, and now writes for Sight & Sound and Filmkrant.

Cousins was appointed honorary professor of the University of Glasgow in 2013,[35] as well as being awarded honorary doctorates at both the University of Edinburgh in 2007[36] and University of Stirling in 2014.[37]

Cousins is a patron of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, and previously acted as both a programmer and director (1996–1997) of the festival.[38]

Cousins chairs the Belfast Film Festival, and is[when?] a board member of Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival.[39] He was a member of the Audentia Award jury at the 42nd Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFF) in 2019,[40] as well as member of the Official Competition jury at the 53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2018.[41]

In 2019, Cousins was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[42]

In 2021, he was on the jury for that year's BFI London Film Festival.[43]

His film The Story of Film: A New Generation was first screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021.[44]

Personal life

[edit]
Cousins in a self-portrait showing his tattoos

Cousins has been in a long-term relationship with psychotherapist Gill Moreton, whom he met at the University of Stirling in 1984; they live in Edinburgh.[4][45][6]

He has spoken about the importance of the body in both life and art, describing it as “the thing that makes us part of the world.” He has several tattoos on his arms bearing the names of filmmakers and other figures he admires, which he says serve as a form of embodied memory – “they left a permanent mark.”[46]

In December 2023 Cousins was one of 50 filmmakers who signed an open letter to Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.[47][48][49]

Filmography

[edit]
Year Title Role Format Runtime Notes
1989 Dear Mr Gorbachev Associate director TV 60m Directed with Michael Grigsby, ITV
1990 Gulf War: Scottish Eye Director TV 38 mins
1993 Another Journey by Train Co-director and producer TV 59 mins Co-directed by Mark Forrest
1994 I Know Where I'm Going! Revisited Director TV 40 mins
1996 Ian Hamilton Finlay: In a Wee Way Director TV 38 mins Co-directed by Mark Forrest
1996 I Remember IKWIG Director TV 40m
1997–2001 Scene by Scene Director and presenter TV 24 Episodes x 60 mins Interviews include Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, David Lynch, Jane Russell, Paul Schrader, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Roman Polanski. Shown on BBC.
1997–2000 Moviedrome Presenter TV 66 Episodes x 5 mins Shown on BBC.
2005 Cinema Iran Director and narrator TV 59 mins Shown on Channel 4. Presented by Omid Djalili
2005 On the Road with Kiarostami Writer and director TV 28 mins
2005 Faith Executive Producer TV movie 102 mins Starring Maxine Peake, Clive Russell and Jason Flemyng.
2008 First Impressions Writer and director Short Film 15 mins Shot in Northern Iraq.
2008 The New Ten Commandments: Kenny Richie Co-director Film Anthology Film Co-directed with Irvine Welsh. Shown on BBC Two
2008 The New Ten Commandments: 8 1/2 Co-director Film Anthology Film Co-directed with Tilda Swinton. Shown on BBC Two
2008 The New Ten Commandments Contributing Director Film 101 mins Co-directed of two of the ten Chapters. Shown on BBC Two
2009 The First Movie Writer and director Film 81 mins BAFTA Scotland Award Nominee for ‘Best Single Documentary’, Royal Television Society Award Nominee for ‘Best Arts Documentary’.
2011 The Story of Film: An Odyssey Writer, director and narrator Film 930 mins Shown on More4 and Turner Classic Movies.
2011 60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero Contributing director Anthology Film 60 mins
2011 Cinema Is Everywhere Self Film 86 mins Centred on a project between Cousins and Tilda Swinton.
2012 What Is this Film Called Love? Writer, director and narrator Film 75 mins A personal film about Mexico City and Sergei Eisenstein
2013 Dear Georges Méliès Writer and co-director Short Film 8 ½ mins Co-directed with 102 children and Tilda Swinton.
2013 Apollo: Prvo ratno kino Co-writer Short Film 14 mins
2013 Here Be Dragons Writer and director Film 76 mins Centred on Albanian cinema
2013 A Story of Children and Film Writer, director and narrator Film 101 mins
2014 Homeless Writer and director Short Film 10 mins
2014 The Wind in the Trees Writer and director Short Film 10 mins
2014 The Place Writer and director Short Film 38 mins
2014 The Big Shave Backwards Writer and director Short Film 1 min
2014 Life May Be Co-writer and co-director Film 80 mins Cine-letters between Mark Cousins and Mania Akbari
2014 The Oar and the Winnowing Fan Writer and director Short Film 4 Episodes x Various mins
2014 But Then Again, Too Few to Mention Writer and director Short Film 7 mins
2014 The Film That Buys the Cinema Contributing Writer and director Film 77 mins Alongside Nicolas Roeg, Tony Grisoni, Jennifer Abbott and Peter Strickland.
2014 6 Desires: D. H. Lawrence and Sardinia Writer, director and narrator Film 83 mins
2014 The Place Writer and director Short Film 38 mins
2014 Dear John Grierson Writer and director Short Film 30 mins
2015 Your Eyes Flash Solemnly with Hate Writer and director Short Film 10 mins About the killer of Pier Paolo Pasolini
2015 I Am Belfast Writer, director and narrator Film 86 mins Cinematography by Christopher Doyle
2015 Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise Writer and director[50] Film 72 mins Score by Mogwai. Produced by BBC and the British Film Institute.
2016 Antonia Bird: From EastEnders to Hollywood Executive producer and self Film 90 mins About Cousin's late friend Antonia Bird
2016 Stockholm, My Love Co-writer and director Film 88 mins Cinematography by Christopher Doyle, starring Neneh Cherry and co-written by Anita Oxburgh
2016 Bigger Than The Shining Director Film 83 mins Cousins axed the film’s DCP after a screening at the 2017 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), intending it to never be shown again.[33]
2016 Eisenstein on Lawrence Writer and director Short Film 9 mins Sergei Eisenstein talks about D. H. Lawrence
2017 Storm in My Heart Director Film 100 mins Experimental film about Susan Hayward and Lena Horne.
2017 The Eyes of Orson Welles Writer, director and narrator Film 110 mins Consulted on and featuring Beatrice Welles, Executive Produced by Michael Moore.
2019 Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema Writer, director and narrator[51] Film 840 mins Starring Thandiwe Newton, Jane Fonda, Tilda Swinton, Sharmila Tagore, Adjoa Andoh and Debra Winger.
2020 Alexander's Film Writer and director Short Film 8 mins
2020 40 Days to Learn Film Writer, director and narrator Film 136 mins
2020 This Violation Director Short Film 8 mins
2020 Dear Paul Schrader Writer and director Short Film 11 mins
2021 The Storms of Jeremy Thomas Writer and director Film 90 mins A road movie with the film producer Jeremy Thomas.
2021 The Story of Looking Writer, director and narrator Film 84 mins Based loosely on the book by Cousins of the same name.
2021 The Story of Film: A New Generation Writer, director and narrator[52] Film 160 mins A sequel to The Story of Film: An Odyssey.
2021 The Flowers the Fish and the Cockerel Self / film subject Film 83 mins A documentary about Mark Cousins.
2022 March on Rome Writer, director and narrator Film 94 mins A documentary about the ascent of fascism in Italy
2024 A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things Writer and director Film 88 mins A documentary about artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham

Bibliography

[edit]
Year Title Publisher Notes
1996 Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of Documentary Faber and Faber Co-Edited by Kevin Macdonald
2002 Scene by Scene Laurence King Publishing Based upon the BBC TV Series of the same name.
2004 The Story of Film: Book Pavilion Books re-issued in 2011 and 2021
2008 Widescreen: Watching Real People Elsewhere  Columbia University Press
2017 The Story of Looking Canongate Books re-issued in 2021

Awards and nominations

[edit]
Year Nominated Work Awards Category Result
2009 The First Movie Berlin International Film Festival Manfred Salzgeber Award Won
2010 Prix Italia Best Arts or Performing Arts Documentary Won
Royal Television Society Best Arts Documentary Nominated
Real to Reel Film and Video Festival Children's Jury Prize Won
The New Ten Commandments Scottish Refugee Film Festival Best Broadcast Award Won
DokumentART Festival Jury Award Won
2011 The First Movie BAFTA Scotland Award Best Single Documentary Nominated
2012 The Story of Film: An Odyssey Palm Springs International Film Festival Best Documentary Feature Nominated
Traverse City Film Festival Stanley Kubrick Award Won
What is this Film Called Love? Torino Film Festival Best International Documentary Film Nominated
Himself Screen International Annual Awards Screen International Award Nominated
Himself London Awards for Art and Performance Award for Film Nominated
2013 The Story of Film: An Odyssey Peabody Awards Won
Here be Dragons BFI London Film Festival Grierson Award Nominated
Adelaide Film Festival Best Documentary Nominated
2014 Life May Be New Horizons Film Festival Films on Art International Competition Nominated
Torino Film Festival Best International Documentary Film Nominated
Edinburgh International Film Festival Best Documentary Feature Film Nominated
2015 Fribourg International Film Festival Don Quixote Award Won
Grand Prix Nominated
I Am Belfast Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Best Documentary Nominated
Adelaide Film Festival Best Documentary Nominated
2016 Traverse City Film Festival Stanley Kubrick Award Won
2018 Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema Venice Film Festival Venezia Classici Award Nominated
The Eyes of Orson Welles Adelaide Film Festival International Documentary Award Nominated
Biografilm Festival Best Film Unipol Award Nominated
Cannes Film Festival Special Mention Won
L'Œil d'or Nominated
Edinburgh International Film Festival Best Documentary Feature Film Nominated
Odesa International Film Festival Best European Documentary Nominated
2019 Barcelona-Sant Jordi International Film Festival Critics Choice Award Won
Himself British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) Outstanding Achievement Award[53] Won
2020 Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema European Film Awards Innovative Storytelling Won
Dublin International Film Festival Best Documentary – Special Mention Won
2021 The Story of Looking Seville European Film Festival New Waves Award Won
The Storms of Jeremy Thomas Cannes Film Festival L'Œil d'or Nominated
The Story of Film: A New Generation Nominated
Stockholm Film Festival Bronze Horse Nominated
2024 A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Crystal Globe for best feature film Won

Festivals accolations

[edit]
Film Festival Film Notes
Edinburgh International Film Festival The New Ten Commandments Official Selection
Sheffield DocFest Official Selection[54]
International Film Festival Rotterdam Official Selection[54]
DokumentART Festival Official Selection[54]
Scottish Refugee Film Festival Official Selection[54]
South by Southwest Film Festival The First Movie Official Selection[55]
Berlin International Film Festival Official Selection[55]
Telluride Film Festival Official Selection[55]
Palm Springs International Film Festival Official Selection
Real to Reel Film and Video Festival Official Selection
Prix Italia Official Selection
European Feature Documentary Film Festival – Belgrade Official Selection
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Official Selection
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Official Selection
Berlin International Film Festival The Story of Film: An Odyssey Official Selection[56]
Toronto International Film Festival Official Selection[56]
Telluride Film Festival Official Selection[56]
Mill Valley Film Festival Official Selection[56]
Istanbul Film Festival Official Selection[56]
Palm Springs International Film Festival Official Selection
Traverse City Film Festival Official Selection
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero Official Selection
Edinburgh International Film Festival What is this Film Called Love? Official Selection[57]
Telluride Film Festival Official Selection[57]
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Official Selection
Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival Official Selection
Copenhagen International Documentary Festival Official Selection
Morelia International Film Festival Official Selection
New Horizons Film Festival Official Selection
Edinburgh International Film Festival A Story of Children and Film Official Selection[58]
Toronto International Film Festival Official Selection[58]
Vancouver International Film Festival Official Selection[58]
Cannes Film Festival Official Selection
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Official Selection
Two Riversides Film and Art Festival Official Selection
Reykjavik International Film Festival Official Selection
Hawaii International Film Festival Official Selection
Stockholm International Film Festival Official Selection
Dubai International Film Festival Official Selection
Hong Kong International Film Festival Official Selection
BUFF International Film Festival Official Selection
San Francisco International Film Festival Official Selection
Sydney Film Festival Official Selection
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Official Selection
Brighton Festival Official Selection
BFI London Film Festival Here be Dragons Official Selection
Telluride Film Festival Official Selection
Adelaide Film Festival Official Selection
Cinéma du Réel Official Selection
Edinburgh International Film Festival Life May Be Official Selection[59]
Torino Film Festival Official Selection[59]
Fribourg International Film Festival Official Selection[59]
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Official Selection
Beirut International Film Festival Official Selection
São Paulo International Film Festival Official Selection
Brisbane International Film Festival Official Selection
Göteborg Film Festival Official Selection
Tempo Documentary Festival Official Selection
Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema Official Selection
New Horizons Film Festival Official Selection
BFI London Film Festival The Film That Buys the Cinema Official Selection[60]
London Short Film Festival Official Selection
Lichter Filmfest Frankfurt International Official Selection
Kyiv International Short Film Festival Official Selection
Kino Climates Weekend Official Selection
Leeds International Film Festival Official Selection
BFI London Film Festival 6 Desires: D. H. Lawrence and Sardinia Official Selection
Sundance Film Festival Official Selection
Sundance Film Festival Official Selection
Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema Official Selection
Edinburgh International Film Festival Official Selection
Belfast Film Festival I Am Belfast Official Selection
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Official Selection
BFI London Film Festival Official Selection
Adelaide Film Festival Official Selection
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Official Selection
South by Southwest Film Festival Official Selection
Seattle International Film Festival Official Selection
Haifa Film Festival Official Selection
Biografilm Festival Official Selection
Glasgow Film Festival Official Selection
Traverse City Film Festival Official Selection
Göteborg Film Festival Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise Official Selection
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Official Selection
Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival Official Selection
Stockholm International Film Festival Stockholm, My Love Official Selection
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Official Selection
Belfast Film Festival Official Selection[61]
São Paulo International Film Festival Official Selection[61]
International Film Festival Rotterdam Bigger Than The Shining Official Selection[61]
Edinburgh International Film Festival Official Selection[61]
Cannes Film Festival The Eyes of Orson Welles Official Selection
Biografilm Festival Official Selection
Edinburgh International Film Festival Official Selection
Foyle Film Festival Official Selection[62]
Galway Film Fleadh Official Selection
Odesa International Film Festival Official Selection
Traverse City Film Festival Official Selection
Bergen International Film Festival Official Selection
Adelaide Film Festival Official Selection
Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival Official Selection
Barcelona-Sant Jordi International Film Festival Official Selection
Göteborg Film Festival Official Selection
Chongqing Youth Film Festival Official Selection
Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival Official Selection[63]
Mumbai Film Festival Official Selection[63]
Golden Horse Film Festival Official Selection[63]
Hong Kong International Film Festival Official Selection[63]
Athens International Film Festival Official Selection[63]
Hawaii International Film Festival Official Selection[63]
Sheffield DocFest Official Selection[63]
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Official Selection[63]
Vancouver International Film Festival Official Selection[63]
Melbourne International Film Festival Official Selection[63]
Telluride Film Festival Official Selection[63]
Istanbul Film Festival Official Selection[63]
Xining FIRST International Film Festival Official Selection[63]
Edinburgh International Film Festival Storm in My Heart Official Selection[64]
International Film Festival Rotterdam Official Selection[64]
Seattle International Film Festival Official Selection[64]
Göteborg Film Festival Official Selection[64]
Dublin International Film Festival Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema Official Selection
European Film Awards Official Selection
Venice Film Festival Official Selection
Toronto International Film Festival Official Selection
Telluride Film Festival Official Selection
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Documentary Fortnightl Official Selection
New Femininity Film Festival Official Selection
Ghent Film Festival Official Selection[65]
Seville European Film Festival Official Selection[65]
Melbourne International Film Festival Official Selection[65]
Melbourne International Documentary Festival Official Selection[65]
Belfast Film Festival Official Selection[65]
BFI London Film Festival Official Selection[65]
It's All True – International Documentary Film Festival 40 Days to Learn Film Official Selection[66]
DocuDays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Alexander's Film Official Selection[66]
Cannes Classics Selection (Cannes Film Festival) The Storms of Jeremy Thomas Official Selection
Vienna International Film Festival Official Selection
Belfast Film Festival Official Selection
BFI London Film Festival Official Selection
Sheffield DocFest The Story of Looking Official Selection
Telluride Film Festival Official Selection[67]
Seville European Film Festival Official Selection[67]
Reykjavik International Film Festival Official Selection[67]
Doclisboa International Film Festival Official Selection[67]
Cannes Film Festival The Story of Film: A New Generation Official Selection
BFI London Film Festival Official Selection
Lumière Film Festival Official Selection
Chicago International Film Festival Official Selection
Golden Horse Film Festival Official Selection
Stockholm International Film Festival Official Selection
Palm Springs International Film Festival Official Selection
Seville European Film Festival Official Selection[68]
Bergen International Film Festival Official Selection[68]
Sydney Film Festival Official Selection[68]
Foyle Film Festival Official Selection[69]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Mark Nathaniel COUSINS personal appointments". Companies House services. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  2. ^ Rodger, James (8 September 2016). "Mogwai gear up for stunning Coventry Cathedral show". CoventryLive.
  3. ^ a b c d Hepburn, Henry (21 September 2012). "Mark Cousins". TESS. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e Jamieson, Teddy (1 October 2012). "Interview: Mark Cousins on the end of youth". The Herald. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  5. ^ Kermode and Mayo (26 August 2016). Kermode Uncut: Mark Cousins. Retrieved 10 November 2025 – via YouTube.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Una, Brankin (1 April 2014). "Mark Cousins: A personal odyssey". Belfast Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 26 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  7. ^ "Honorary Graduates of the University of Stirling". 2013. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  8. ^ "Mark Cousins Years". Moviedromer.
  9. ^ "Mark Cousins and Tilda Swinton Officially Announce Their 8 1/2 Foundation". 28 June 2010.
  10. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Our gal Tilda and her magical perambulating film festival | Interviews". RogerEbert.com.
  11. ^ "Entertainment | Actress Swinton hauls cinema". BBC News. 4 August 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  12. ^ a b Staff (2012). "The Story of Film: An Odyssey". Channel 4. Archived from the original on 4 July 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  13. ^ Scott, A. O. (31 January 2012). "Your Film of Films: A Sweeping History of an Art". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  14. ^ Staff (2012). "The Story of Film: An Odyssey – Episodes". Channel 4. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  15. ^ Cousins, Mark (2011). "The Story of Film: An Odyssey – Real To Reel". Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  16. ^ "TCM Monthly Schedule – View the Full TCM TV Schedule". Turner Classic Movies.
  17. ^ "The Peabody Awards, The Story of Film: An Odyssey (TCM)". Grady College of Journalism and Mass Media, University of Georgia. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  18. ^ "Robert Osborne – The Story of Film: An Odyssey – 2013 Peabody Award Acceptance Speech". 5 December 2014 – via www.youtube.com.
  19. ^ a b c d Kyle, Barrett (15 December 2021). "Drifting with Cousins: Mark Cousins and the Psychogeographical Essay Film" (PDF). Ekphrasis. Images, Cinema, Theory, Media. 26 (2): 27–42. doi:10.24193/ekphrasis.26.3.
  20. ^ a b Lodge, Guy (3 July 2012). "What Is This Film Called Love?". Variety. Retrieved 3 November 2025. Sprite-like Irish film critic, historian and documaker Mark Cousins has done many commendable things to honor the medium he loves so deeply – notably last year's The Story of Film" – but his fatuous vanity project "What Is This Film Called Love?" is not among them.
  21. ^ Kiang, Jessica (28 December 2012). "6 Personal Highlights From The Film Festivals Of 2012". The Playlist. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  22. ^ Kiang, Jessica (5 July 2012). "Our Karlovy Vary Film Fest Reviewer Experiences A Personal Epiphany At Mark Cousins' 'What Is This Film Called Love'". The Playlist. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  23. ^ a b Muller, Charel (16 October 2013). "Here be Dragons: an insight into Albanian culture and history". Cineuropa - the best of european cinema. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  24. ^ Dalton, Stephen (17 October 2013). "Here Be Dragons: London Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 3 November 2025. Shot last year during a short working holiday in Albania, this free-associating documentary initially promises to illuminate a mysterious Balkan backwater rarely seen on screen. Instead, it reveals rather too much about its author, his brainy reading habits, his airline meals, and his random thoughts on culture and politics.
  25. ^ "Here Be Dragons". Time Out Worldwide. 26 October 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  26. ^ Brian Moylan, "Sundance 2015 review: 6 Desires: DH Lawrence and Sardinia – Mark Cousins is lost somewhere over The Rainbow", The Guardian, 24 January 2015.
  27. ^ Pulver, Andrew (21 June 2014). "Life May Be: Edinburgh 2014 review – intensely felt passion with a sense of self-advertisement". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  28. ^ Peter Bradshaw, "Cannes 2013: A Story of Children and Film – review", The Guardian, 4 April 2013. ("... one of the most beguiling events at Cannes, appropriately presented in the Cannes Classics section. Mark Cousins' personal cine-essay about children on film is entirely distinctive, sometimes eccentric, always brilliant: a mosaic of clips, images and moments chosen with flair and grace, both from familiar sources and from the neglected riches of cinema around the world.")
  29. ^ Peter DeBruge, "Cannes Film Review: 'A Story of Children and Film'", Variety, 18 May 2013.
  30. ^ Tim Robey, "A Story of Children and Film, review: A vivid history of children in front of the camera", The Daily Telegraph, 3 April 2014. ("Something about Mark Cousins’ feyly magisterial presenting style fits the material like a glove in his new documentary – it may be the best thing he's ever done."
  31. ^ Mark Kermode, "A Story of Children and Film review – Mark Cousins' 'spine-tingling' visual essay" Mark Cousins' film exploring childhood and film is dazzling in its breadth and intelligence", The Guardian, 5 April 2014. ("A hugely impressive work by a uniquely talented storyteller.")
  32. ^ Mark Cousins, "Fountain of youth: how a film-maker recaptured his passion for the craft. Burned out after making the epic documentary The Story of Film, Mark Cousins describes how filming kids having fun helped him find his way back – and create a moving portrait of childhood", The Guardian, 2 April 2014.
  33. ^ a b Grater, Tom (1 February 2017). "Mark Cousins destroys his own film with an axe at IFFR". Screen Daily. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  34. ^ Hardie, Kate (28 October 2013). "Antonia Bird obituary". The Guardian.
  35. ^ "Filmmaker Mark Cousins appointed Honorary Professor". www.gla.ac.uk.
  36. ^ "Mark Cousins | Edinburgh College of Art". www.eca.ed.ac.uk.
  37. ^ "Mark Cousins | College of Humanities | University of Exeter". humanities.exeter.ac.uk.
  38. ^ "Mark Cousins | Edinburgh International Film Festival". www.edfilmfest.org.uk.
  39. ^ "About the Festival". The Traverse City Film Festival.
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