Dear Orson Wells and Other Essays

In this wide-ranging, stylish and iconoclastic book, the acclaimed Belfast filmmaker and BBC author Mark Cousins reflects on his prolific career in documentary-making, meditating on the philosophers, writers, actors and films that have influenced him. From recollections of his childhood in Belfast to practical filmmaking advice for new directors, to the complexities of representing trauma on screen, this is a book that will captivate any readers interested in contemporary film and the history of cinema. Cousins’ essays are in conversation with iconic artistic figures, particularly Pier Paolo Pasolini, an Italian poet, filmmaker, writer and intellectual; and Orson Welles, an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He is also in dialogue with D.H. Lawrence; film-directors Stanley Donen and Agnes Varda; actors Amy Adams, Channing Tatum, Quentin Tarantino, Tilda Swinton, Nicole Kidman and Dennis Hopper; screenwriter Paul Schrader; and last but not least, himself. The book will also feature an Introduction by Fintan O’Toole, a polemicist, literary editor, journalist and drama critic for The Irish Times, and the author of many books including the best-selling memoir We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958. Mark Cousins is the author of five books, including the acclaimed The Story of Film (Pavilion Books, with the BBC series), Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of Documentary (Faber and Faber) and The Story of Looking (Canongate Books). He has been the recipient of many cinema and film festival awards (Cannes Film Festival, Dublin International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, European Film Awards, and more). He is now an Honorary Professor in Film Studies and Production at Queen’s University Belfast and Chairperson of the Belfast Film Festival. He was the Director of the Edinburgh Film Festival from 1996-1997, which was established in 1947 and is the world’s oldest continually running film festival. He has written, directed and/or produced over fifty documentaries and films, many of them broadcast widely on the BBC and Channel 4.