Mark Cousins on Documentary, AI, and His New 16-Hour Series

Filmmaker Mark Cousins discusses his upcoming 16-hour series 'The Story of Documentary Film' (2026), premiering 100 years after John Grierson coined the term 'documentary'. The series traces documentary evolution across 16 chapters, highlighting overlooked filmmakers like Egyptian director Ateyyat El Abnoudy and French director Alain Cavalier. Cousins argues documentary represents a 'new kind of consciousness', citing Hungarian theorist Béla Balázs. He notes documentaries both record and write history, referencing Frederick Wiseman's 'Titicut Follies' (1967) and Japanese environmental films by Noriaki Tsuchimoto. Cousins addresses ideological cinema, from Dziga Vertov to Leni Riefenstahl, and the Griersonian model of state-funded educational documentaries. He expresses concern about AI-generated imagery and political extremists using images to create lies, but as a filmmaker asks 'how do I do something better than AI?'—comparing the challenge to painters when photography emerged. Cousins wore a 'Documentary Kills Fascism' t-shirt at Sheffield DocFest, where he screened a chapter. He believes documentary can humanize rioters and serve as a 'solidarity machine'.