This programme explores the cinematography techniques of some of the world’s greatest women directors and examines the themes of time and memory. 'Women Make Film VI' features screenings of six chapters from Mark Cousins’ documentary Women Make Film.

‘Tension’ reminds audiences the real-world tension that appears in documentary films. The second chapter ‘Stasis’, showcases the inventive ways to film a static encounter—from undeviating lives contained within a frame to the biggest statis of all: death. In ‘Leave Out’ Cousins examines the obvious visuals that are left out from the frame and the unseen that sings a feminist dimension.

The next chapter ‘Reveal’ surveys the ways a plot—of love, death, religion, or myth—could be revealed. ‘Memory’ samples how individual, national, or nostalgic memory—triggered by touch, sound, and sight—have been depicted and reinvented in films. In the last chapter, ‘Time’, Cousins explores the magic of cinema where filmmakers have stretched time like mozzarella, concentrated a lifetime into a few minutes, or used the camera as a time machine.

Mark Cousins (b. 1965, England) is a filmmaker, critic, and programmer based in Edinburgh. He is known for The First Movie (2009), The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011), A Story of Children and Film (2013), and The Eyes of Orson Welles (2018). He is the co-founder with Tilda Swinton of the 8½ Foundation.