Mark Cousins

Mark Cousins is a filmmaker, critic and programmer.

He programmed the Edinburgh Film Festival (1996-97), hosted BBC2’s Moviedrome (1997-2000) and Scene by Scene (1999-2000), and is the author of The Story of Film and (with Kevin Macdonald) Imagining Reality: the Faber Book of Documentary. His movies include The First Movie, The Story of Film: An Odyssey and A Story of Children and Film. He is the co-founder (with Tilda Swinton) of the 8½ Foundation.

He tweets @markcousinsfilm.

Articles by Mark Cousins

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Cats is pure bewildering pleasure

Cats might seem a folly by normal habits of judgment – but its mad musical choreography and even its awkward effects are a pure hit of visual singularity, says Mark Cousins.

Friday, December 20, 2019

Features
From the Magazine

An open letter to Bob Iger, chief executive, The Walt Disney Company, from Mark Cousins

Following claims that Disney is restricting access to 20th Century Fox titles at cinemas, film lover Mark Cousins has a modest proposal.

Monday, November 25, 2019

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From the Magazine

Can men love musicals?

Could the tepid critical response to the brilliant The Greatest Showman have anything to do with a general male suspicion of musicals, asks Mark Cousins.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

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Farewell, Stanley Donen, and thanks for the juice

Director of the most exuberant Hollywood revels, from Singin’ in the Rain onwards, Stanley Donen burnished the moment for as long as he could. Mark Cousins bids farewell to a filmmaker whom he celebrated at the 1995 Edinburgh Film Festival.

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Obituaries
Mrinal Sen obituary: Bengali director who found the human in the radical

Shruti Narayanswamy pays tribute to a bold director who was a pioneer of the Indian New Wave while below, Mark Cousins counts the reasons why we should explore his work.

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Obituaries
From the Magazine

African cinema: open your eyes

After years of detective work, 24 lost African classics are screening at film festivals around the UK. If you’re curious about film, there’s no excuse not to dive in, says Mark Cousins.

Friday, October 20, 2017

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From the Magazine

Guru Dutt: such sweet sorrow

In this piece from the Sight & Sound archive, Mark Cousins highlights “one of the great, brooding figures in post-Independence Indian cinema”: an actor-director who brought stillness, self-criticism and unexpected pessimism to the whirl of Indian melodrama, making himself its Orson Welles.

Friday, June 2, 2017

Features
From the Magazine

Pump up the volume! Why we’re screening Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise LOUD

Why can rock gigs be very loud, with people bringing ear plugs to reduce the volume according to their preference, but cinema can’t, Mark Cousins wonders?

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

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Mark Cousins: the films that influenced I Am Belfast

The latest movie from Mark Cousins is a poetic attempt to get at the ‘dream life’ of the city where he grew up. Which films were on his mind when he was making it?

Friday, April 1, 2016

Features
From the Magazine

Scissor sisters

Given the maleness of the industry, it’s a surprise to realise just how many classic films have been crafted by female editors, says Mark Cousins.

Monday, September 7, 2015

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