The Story of Film: A New Generation
Directed by Mark Cousins

TICKETS

$12 / $8 Speed members

“And for those who appreciate the director’s wide-eyed and open-hearted way of looking at cinema, the documentary is brimming with clips sure to expand their horizons.”—Peter Debruge, Variety

​​A decade after The Story of Film: An Odyssey, an expansive and influential inquiry into the state of moviemaking in the 20th century which was screened on Speed Cinema’s opening day, filmmaker Mark Cousins returns with an epic and hopeful tale of cinematic innovation from around the globe.

In The Story of Film: A New Generation, Cousins turns his sharp, meticulously honed gaze on world cinema from 2010 to 2021, using a surprising range of works including Joker, Frozen, and Cemetery of Splendor as launchpads to explore recurring themes and emerging motifs, from the evolution of film language to technology’s role in moviemaking today to shifting identities in 21st-century world cinema.

Touching on everything from Parasite and The Farewell to Black Panther and Lover’s Rock, Cousins seeks out films, filmmakers, and communities under-represented in traditional film histories, with a particular emphasis on Asian and Middle Eastern works, as well as boundary-pushing documentaries and films that see gender in new ways. And as the recent pandemic recedes, Cousins ponders what comes next in the streaming age: how have we changed as cinephiles, and how moviegoing will continue to transform in the digital century, into our collective joy and wonder. 2022, U.K., DCP, in English and multiple languages with English subtitles, 167 minutes. Recommended for 16+.