Mark Cousins

Mark Cousins is a Northern Irish filmmaker, writer and curator who lives in Scotland. A former director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, his books include Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of Documentary (with Kevin Macdonald) Watching Real People Elsewhere, and The Story of Film, which was published around the world. He adapted it into a 930 minute film, THE STORY OF FILM: AN ODYSSEY, which won the Stanley Kubrick Award from Michael Moore, and a Peabody Award.

He was Co-Artistic Director of a number of projects with Tilda Swinton, including the 8 ½ Foundation (www.eightandahalf.org) which introduced kids aged 8 and a half to world cinema. His TV documentaries were on neo-Nazism, Iran and the artist Ian Hamilton Finlay. His films for the big screen include THE FIRST MOVIE, which won the Prix Italia; WHAT IS THIS FILM CALLED LOVE?; A STORY OF CHILDREN AND FILM, which was in official selection in Cannes; HERE BE DRAGONS, which won the top prize at the One World festival in Romania; and the forthcoming LIFE MAY BE (co-directed with Mania Akbari) and 6 DESIRES: DH LAWRENCE AND SARDINIA. He is Honorary Professor of Film at the University of Glasgow , a columnist for Sight and Sound, and is currently working on new feature projects about DH Lawrence, Belfast and Stockholm.

http://about.me/markcousins