Writer, filmmaker and passionate cinephile has made a 15-hour documentary  inspired by his bestseller, ‘The Story of Film’. It is shown on Teema on Finnish TV this fall. It throws you into the history of film and I have learned things which have changed the way I watch film. He takes us through the history of innovation in cinema, with a gentle, Northern Irish accent. Enthusiastically guiding our way among clips and interviews gathered from across the globe.

Mark Cousins is a filmmaker and also a curator. His four film books have been published around the world. He has co-directed four innovative film events, and the 8 ½ Foundation  with Tilda Swinton. He’s Honorary Dr at the University of Edinburgh. He was Director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which he took to Sarajevo during the siege, and co-directed Cinema China. He co-founded the charity Scottish Kids are Making Movies, is co-director of  4 Way Pictures.

Using more than 1,000 select film clips and more than 40 interviews, Cousins examines the question of innovation. Rather than a comprehensive history of popular film, The Story of Film focuses on the poetics of the medium and how the cinematic language has crossed borders.  “I tried, where possible, to find where ideas came from,” Cousins explains in an interview in Documentary.org: “I tried to show what might never have been seen–not that it’s new, but not seen.”  His story of film features women filmmakers as well as work from outside the Western world and from six continents

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• The Story Of Film Preview (Kirk Haviland) (entertainmentmaven.com)