The 2018 Cannes Film Festival ended with jurors giving a favorable nod to Mark Cousins’ documentary The Eyes of Orson Welles.
Of the 17 documentaries submitted in competition, the jury gave the Cannes L’Œil d’or (Golden Eye) documentary award to Stefano Savona’s Samouni Road ― a French-Italian co-production that recounts a 2009 incident in which 48 Palestinians were killed. The jury also gave honorable mentions to The Eyes of Orson Welles and Michel Tosca’s Libre.
Eyes producer Adam Dawtrey tweeted the jury comments: ‘[Cousins] explores the unique universe of Orson Welles through his cinematic images and often unseen drawings. He fervently questions the representation of people and the world. He raises this essential question: how to view the time we are living in?”
The Eyes of Orson Welles also received favorable reviews from The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian and Screen International.
Cousins embarked on the project after meeting with Beatrice Welles and executive producer Michael Moore at the 2016 Traverse City Film Festival.
“Like many people, I’ve loved Welles films throughout my adult life, but I didn’t think I’d make a film about him,” Cousins told Wellesnet before the screening. “But then, I met Beatrice Welles and, through her, saw his drawings and paintings. I realized that this was a new way of seeing Welles, an unexpected way, a side door. The challenge is, as always, to avoid banality, cliches and the obvious. I wanted to try to say something new.”
London-based Dogwoof plans a summer 2018 release, according to producers.
The BBC has the UK broadcast rights, while Turner Classic Movies and Filmstruck have television and streaming video-on-demand rights in North America.
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