Subtitled ‘An Odyssey’, it’s a suitably epic journey through the history of cinema that features interviews with the likes of Martin Scorsese, Baz Luhrman and Singin’ In The Rain director Stanley Donen, spotlights technical and artistic innovations that transformed the grammar of film, and champions the critical importance and aesthetic brilliance of directors such as Yasujiro Ozu, Youssef Chahine and Benjamin Christensen, whose achievements are often ignored by Anglo-American cinephiles. The Story of Film is quite some achievement too: visually ensnaring and intellectually lithe, it’s at once a love letter to cinema, an unmissable masterclass, and a radical rewriting of movie history.
…What does Cousins who spent the best part of a decade working on The Story of Film most want viewers to get out of the series? “I hope they see the beauty of the movies.” And Cousins himself, what did he most enjoy about making it? “Filming with Donen, walking in Kolkata before dawn. Jane Campion talking about panic attacks. Getting my Eisenstein tattoo. Being in Burkina Faso. Making this has given me enough memories for a lifetime.”
via: The Telegraph
