The Story of Film

The Story of Film: An Odyssey is an unprecedented cinematic event, an epic journey through the history of world cinema that is a treat for movie lovers around the globe. Guided by film historian Mark Cousins, this bold 15-part love letter to the movies begins with the invention of motion pictures at the end of the 19th century and concludes with the multi-billion dollar globalized digital industry of the 21st.

Award-winning film-maker Mark Cousins provides a worldwide guided tour of the greatest movies ever made and tells the story of international cinema through the history of cinematic innovation.

A documentary of the story behind Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation (1989).

The Story of Qiu Ju (see the trailer below) depicts a Chinese peasant woman’s long pursuit for justice in a highly bureaucratic and turbulent rural society. The film beautifully portrays various formal and informal dispute resolution processes as well as enables a glimpse into rural China. While this touching story will surely stay in your heart, it also reminds us of the interesting form true justice can take.

Owning The Origins of Film three disc box set from Image is like having your own private museum of film history. Boasting hours of quality programming from the silent era as compiled and preserved by the Library of Congress Video Collection, this set celebrates some of the art form’s earliest and most significant movies, from the earliest films by both African American and female directors to a treasure trove of animation’s earliest days. Author Kevin Brownlow has called the silent era the richest period of cinema history, and one need look no further than The Origins of Film to confirm the validity of that statement. Before there was Spike Lee, there was Oscar Micheaux. Before there were Jane Campion or even Ida Lupino, there were Alice Guy-Blache and Lois Weber. And before there were Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, there were Krazy Kat and the Katzenjammer Kids.

Christy Brown is a spastic quadriplegic born to a large, poor Irish family. His mother, Mrs Brown, recognizes the intelligence and humanity in the lad everyone else regards as a vegetable. Eventually, Christy matures into a cantankerous writer who uses his only functional limb, his left foot, to write with.

I'll admit I'm not objective, but I enjoyed "For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism," a documentary made by an American film critic about American film critics. Gerald Peary, longtime Boston Phoenix critic and a professor of film, spent four years conducting interviews for this breezy history, which starts with the origins of American reviewing in descriptive notes.

Inspired by the tale from Hebrew scriptures and the Christian Bible, the Moabitess child Ruth is sold to the temple of Chemosh. Years pass and she serves as a priestess to the idol. While arranging a temple ritual, she encounters a Judean family of artisans: Elimelech, his wife Naomi, their sons Chilion and Mahlon…

In 1980, two Cork outsiders, Cathal Coughlan and Sean O’Hagan, met at a New Year's Eve party. Bonding over music, a friendship and songwriting partnership was ignited; the band they formed, Microdisney, was one of the best bands of the 1980s that you’ve probably never heard. Mixing Sean’s stunning melodic arrangements with Cathal’s poetic, angry lyrics, they recorded three brilliant LPs, gained critical adulation and an obsessive cult following. But a hit single eluded them, as did radio play and LP sales. By 1988, frustrated by their lack of progress, the band crashed and burned, leaving a trail of acrimony and broken friendships.