Mark Cousins (b. 1965, Belfast) is a Northern Irish filmmaker, writer, curator, film critic, and traveller living in Scotland. His feature debut The First Movie (2009) won the Prix Italia. On the world stage, Cousins is best known for The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011), which was presented at numerous festivals, including KVIFF 2012. He has written works on cinema: The Story of Film (2004), Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of Documentary (with Kevin Macdonald, 2006), and Widescreen: Watching Real People Elsewhere (2008). He and Tilda Swinton head up the 8½ Foundation, whose mission is to broaden kids’ cinematic horizons with movies from around the world. Other films by Cousins screened at KVIFF: What Is This Film Called Love? (2012), A Story of Children and Film (2013), Life May Be (co-dir. Mania Akbari, 2013), and I Am Belfast (2015), which competed in the Documentary Film Competition.
