Mark Cousins, an empathetic cinephile, festival stalwart and Crystal Globe winner, presented part of his epic series on the history of documentary film at this year’s KVIFF. The Story of Documentary Film – 1980s was also presented to viewers in the form of a mind map. Cousins showed the audience a huge canvas made up of sheets of paper tied together with string, filled with notes that serve as the basis for this fresco.
“I want to capture the complexity of the documentary form. It’s so many things at once. Documentary film attracts all sorts of people: both those who want to change the world and those who simply want to observe it,” said Cousins, explaining his thoughts on the structure, which, according to moderator Aleš Stuchlý, is intuitive and a world away from academic dryness.
“I’m an introvert and a bit shy. Many of us in this hall are introverts. And that’s why we love films. Life is terrifying, but brilliant at the same time. When we have one another, we can weather whatever lies at the summit of the mountain or at the bottom of the valley of tears,” he said, outlining his philosophy. “We haven’t seen most of what has happened in people’s lives and throughout history. We didn’t meet the Buddha and Cleopatra or see the pyramids being built. That leaves a lot of space for our imagination,” he continued.
Following The Story of Film: An Odyssey and Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema, this is the filmmaker’s third major work of its kind. He did not have much trouble with the research, however; he wrote his first book on documentary film thirty years ago. As he travels the world, he contacts various national film archives and asks them who their greatest documentary filmmakers are. “My head was bursting, like a pressure cooker ready to explode. That made my job a lot easier,” he said, before highlighting the cooperation he has received from the archives, which have been very accommodating. Both sides trust each other.
The final question was about how he manages to keep his wits about him. “I walk through towns. I dance every morning. I drink Aperol. I swim naked in the sea at two in the morning. And for forty years now, I have been sharing all this with the person who is the centre of my universe,” concluded the energetic filmmaker.
