THE STORY OF LOOKING
DOCUMENTARY | ENGLISH | 90 MIN
As he prepares for surgery to restore his vision, Mark Cousins explores the role that visual experience plays in our individual and collective lives. In a deeply personal meditation on the power of looking in his own life, he guides us through the riches of the visible world, a kaleidoscope of extraordinary imagery across cultures and eras. At a time when we are more assailed by images than ever, he reveals how looking makes us who we are, lying at the heart of the human experience, empathy, discovery and thought. He shares the pleasure and pain of seeing the world, in all its complexity and contradiction, with eyes wide open. As the Covid-19 pandemic brings another dramatic shift of perspective, he reaches out to the other lookers for their vision from lockdown, and travels to the future to consider how his looking life will continue to develop until the very end.
DIRECTOR Mark Cousins
PRODUCERS Mary Bell, Adam Dawtrey
On release September 17
New paperback edition The Story of Looking book - Coming Soon
"a delicate and fascinating exploration of what it
means to look at movies – and the world"
★★★★★
— THE GUARDIAN
“A rich cinematic journey into the art of seeing
and how it connects us with culture, ourselves
and each other”
—TIME OUT
“Fascinating, thought-provoking stuff told in
Cousins’ engaging, typically impish way”
★★★★
— EMPIRE
“an eye-opening journey”
★★★★
— THE IRISH TIMES
FESTIVALS + AWARDS
Sheffield Doc Fest 2021
Closing Film
Galway Film Fleadh 2021
Official Selection