THE STORY OF DOCUMENTARY FILM (THE 1970S)
The Story of Documentary Film by Mark Cousins: after the screening
Mark Cousins continues his work as a chronicler of cinema with The Story of Documentary Film, presented on May 15th in the Cannes Classics section. This is a journey in two parts, based on the archives of great films that changed the history of the documentary.
Though Mark Cousins approaches the history of documentary film in a sober, chorological fashion, the films he cites are quite surprising. Where film courses will trumpet great classics of the genre such as Nanouk l’Esquimau (Nanook of the North) by Robert Flaherty, Salesman by the Maysles Brothers, or Chronique d’un été (Chronicle of a Summer) by Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin, Mark Cousins expressly chooses not to mention them. However, he does reveal his fondness for the famous scene featuring sheep in the snow in Artavazd Pelechian’s Saisons (Seasons) (Pelechian Project also appears in the Cannes Classics selection this year). The Story of Documentary Film also travels from Luc Moullet’s Genèse d’un repas (Origins of a Meal) through the feminist revolutions of the 1970s to Agnès Varda’s Daguerréotypes.
Narrated by a highly personal and illustrative voice-over, this chronology of archives creates a dialogue between works from different countries and eras. Through these unexpected comparisons, the Scottish filmmaker shows that the documentary is never just a record of reality, but a way of comprehending the world in its totality.
One particularly gratifying thing about Mark Cousins (who is appearing in the Official Selection for the fifth time): from The Story of Film: A New Generation to his recent essays on Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, or the female gaze in the history of cinema, every extract offers a new opportunity for discovery. The film mostly makes you want to watch, or rewatch, all the works it brings together.
