Mark Cousins is an Irish filmmaker, author, broadcaster and curator whose passion for film is clearly evident in his epic documentary series that focuses on cinematic innovation, The Story of Film: An Odyssey. An engaging and personal journey that covers 6 continents and 12 decades, The Story of Film: An Odyssey screens every Sunday evening before Rialto Channel’s Directors Series at 7.25pm and is a must see for anyone even vaguely interested in film. In between doing the Festival circuit, Mark kindly found a moment to chat.

Mark Cousins is an Irish filmmaker, author, broadcaster and curator whose passion for film is clearly evident in his epic documentary series that focuses on cinematic innovation, The Story of Film: An Odyssey. An engaging and personal journey that covers 6 continents and 12 decades, The Story of Film: An Odyssey screens every Sunday evening before Rialto Channel’s Directors Series at 7.25pm and is a must see for anyone even vaguely interested in film. In between doing the Festival circuit, Mark kindly found a moment to chat.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to Rialto Channel. I’ve loved watching The Story of Film; An Odyssey – what an epic and wonderfully realised project.

MC: Thanks so much.

You published the book The Story of Film: An Odyssey in 2004, how did you set about turning it into a television series?

MC: My producer John Archer suggested that we make a film of the book. I thought he was mad – he was mad – the global history of cinema turned into a documentary?! I knew that I didn’t want to make it in the TV style – lots of talking heads, graphics, still photographs, a presenter, etc. I thought that it should be more like an old magic lantern show – image after image, pushing in from the right of screen. A “show and tell”. I imagined that you and I are watching TSOF together in a cinema. I am sitting beside you, whispering in your ear, trying to move your eye around the screen. It doesn’t feel like a TV series, because it isn’t one…


What was the biggest challenge in producing The Story of Film: An Odyssey?

MC: There were practical difficulties – the low budget, the constant jet lag, the unavailability of some films, etc. I had a bruise on my hip for several years from carrying the tripod. But the main challenge was the same as in any creative endeavour: to avoid banality. There have been so many histories of movie stardom, Hollywood, the genres, national cinemas, individual directors, etc., and too many of them are prose not poetry. They think that cinema is about Oscars, show biz, etc., rather than about light, self-loss and the like. I wanted to try to make something more passionate, international and, if possible, more perceptive than those things.

Was it hard deciding which directors and films would be included, or did the theme of innovation help you refine the list of films and filmmakers you wanted to discuss?

MC: The theme of innovation was the thread that I followed through movie history. Once I realized that innovating with the language of the movies is how filmmakers keep film alive, how they stop it from being boring or moribund, then I knew that that was my theme. In choosing the directors and films I knew, also, that I wanted to avoid having the sort of blind spots that many film histories have: I didn’t want to ignore the great African filmmakers, for example, or the brilliant women directors who are ridiculously undervalued.

The series features a collection of interviews with legendary actors and filmmakers such as Gus Van Sant, Baz Luhrmann, Lars Von Trier and Jane Campion. Everyone speaks naturally and the interviews come across as being relaxed – it’s such a nice contrast to the sound-bite interviews we see so often these days. What did you do to achieve this?

MC: Thanks. We shot with a very small camera and no lights, in the person’s home or office – not in a hotel. I would often sit on the ground. The interviewee was never on a junket and had no PR person present. And I tried to avoid the same questions that they are always asked (though I did, of course, ask Stanley Donen about Singin’ in the Rain, for example…). When I interview someone I really do my homework, and know their work inside out. That makes them respect me a bit more, and so they talk more like they would to a friend, I think, I hope.

Out of all the remarkable people you spoke to, did anyone surprise you or change how you look and think about film?

MC: Meeting Stanley Donen was like meeting Cervantes or Paul Cezanne – a figure from the golden age. Amitabh Bachachan, the most famous person in the world (more-so than Barack Obama, for example) wanted to talk about the great Indian director Guru Dutt – that was a surprise (and delight).


Looking to the present, who do you think is creating innovative work around the world at the moment?

MC: The filmmakers from the Philippines – Lav Diaz, Kavn de la Cruz, etc – are doing brilliant films on tiny budgets. They are making me see film anew. Plus, Apichatpong Weeresethakul in Thailand is amazing, and Tsai Ming Liang in Taiwan continues to renew movie language. Innovation is rife in cinema, but often not where we expect.

Thanks so much for taking the time to chat to Rialto Channel. Just before you go, do you have a new project you’re currently working on?

MC: I’ve made three films since The Story of Film: An Odyssey – What is this Film Called Love?, A Story of Children and Film and Here be Dragons – in Mexico, Scotland and Albania. I just adore filmmaking – framing shots, making imagery, etc. I have started two new films, too.

Thanks so much for taking the time to chat, and congratulations once again on the epic The Story of Film: An Odyssey.