This is the story of film told passionately, from the perspective of the filmmakers themselves. Interweaving personalities, technological advances and changes in production with engaging descriptions of groundbreaking scenes in the films themselves, Mark Cousins captures the shifting trends of movie history without recourse to jargon or too much theory. Drawing upon his experience as film critic, producer and director, Cousins describes how filmmakers influenced each other and how contemporary events influenced them. Ultimately, he argues, it has been the men and women who questioned established techniques and traditions who have truly enhanced their medium. Controversially, he declares that the work of the great Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu challenges current accepted notions of what are the traditional norms of classical filmmaking. Throughout, striking images and rare freeze-frames point up both stylistic and technical cinematic innovation. In keeping with Cousins international perspective, the images are drawn as much from the less familiar worlds of African, Asian and Middle Eastern cinema as from the work of Western directors. Cousins narrative pits mainstream entertainment films against maverick talents, and blockbusters against art house gems, as he traverses the Silent Era, Hollywood, the European avant-garde, Japanese and other non-Western filmmaking. It is a powerful and gripping story that teaches us why, more than a century after the first flickering images hit the screen, film has become the pervasive and persuasive, often computer-aided, medium it is today.