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Project Detail

The Eyes of Orson Welles

Synopsis

Orson Welles trained as an artist before he become an actor and director, and continued to draw and paint throughout his career - character sketches, storyboards, set designs, pictures of the people and places that inspired him. These artworks are a sketchbook of his life, and most have never been seen outside his family and close friends.
For the first time, award-winning director Mark Cousins has been granted access to this treasure trove of imagery, to make a film about what he finds there - the story of Welles' visual thinking, never before told. An exclusive new perspective on one of the 20th century's greatest creative figures, whose art and life continue to fascinate audiences today.
Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2018 - Cannes Classics - World premiere

Details

Year
2018
Type of project
Features
Running time
110 mins
Format
Digital
Director
Mark Cousins
Producer
Mary Bell, Adam Dawtrey
Executive Producer
Michael Moore, Mark Bell, Mark Thomas
Editor
Timo Langer
Screenwriter
Mark Cousins
Director of Photography
Mark Cousins
Sound
Ali Murray
Composer
Matt Regan
Film Image
© Walter Carone, Paris Match via Getty Images

Genre

Scottish

Categories

Documentary

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Bofa Productions Limited

Adam Dawtrey
20 Westerton Drive
Bridge of Allan
Stirlingshire
FK9 4QL

Sales Company

Dogwoof

19-23 Ironmonger Row
London
EC1V 3QN

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See also

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The Story of Documentary Film The Story of Documentary Film

Director: Mark Cousins

Year: 2026

Tracing the evolution of documentary film across time, examining international landmark works and hidden treasures, while revealing how the form has helped us see and make sense of our world. Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2026 - World premiere Official Selection Berlin International Film Festival 2026 - Berlinale Special Series - European premiere (episode 1) | World premiere (episodes 2-4)

History
Cinema Has Been My True Love Cinema Has Been My True Love

Director: Mark Cousins

Year: 2023

Cinema Has Been My True Love: The Work and Times of Lynda Myles In Mark Cousins’ meditative documentary, Lynda Myles, an influential connoisseur of cinema, reflects on her adventures in the film culture she helped establish. From 1973 to 1980, as the first female director of any festival, Myles transformed the Edinburgh Film Festival into a vibrant, iconoclastic mecca of discovery, championing the work of overlooked auteurs including Hitchcock, Sirk and Sam Fuller. Official selection Telluride Film Festival 2023 - World premiere

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things

Director: Mark Cousins

Year: 2024

A creative biography of the Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. One of the most important women in British modern art, the painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham was a highly inspirational figure, whose work was deeply impacted by a pivotal event in her life. In May 1949, this leading representative of the modernist St. Ives group of artists climbed to the top of the Grindelwald glacier in Switzerland, an experience which was to transform the way she saw the world. She spent the rest of her life capturing its shapes and colours, indeed its very essence. In his essayistic portrait Cousins delves into complex themes of gender, climate change and creativity, while laying bare the artist’s character and vast imagination so pervasively that he creates the impression we are seeing the world through her eyes. Official Selection Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2024 - World premiere Official Selection Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024

Northern Irish Scottish