“The film industry would have us believe that money drives movies,” Mark Cousins’ crooning voice-over muses as we slip through the opening montages of his documentary epic. His tone is candid, subversive and hints at a mischievous chuckle. For a cinephile such as himself, film isn’t money – film is a language, a language of ideas and imagination. As the body of commercial cinema begins to look increasingly narrow-minded, we have been granted a golden opportunity to widen the lens and look at cinematic history past to present in its full depth.

The ambitious scope of such a project seems out of place for the Youtube generation. Indeed it is remarkable that a channel such as More4 had the patience to fund Cousins' epic, allowing him initially twelve prime time hour-long episodes then reportedly consenting to fifteen after much protest.

But as the Story of Film gathers pace, it's clear that such a rich, complex and truly global history deserves the time dedicated to it. Only in fifteen hours of footage is it possible to experience the innovation and creation of film over 12 decades. You may have heard of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, but have you heard of Minoru Murata and his seminal 1920 film Souls on the Road. Or perhaps the female pioneers of early silent cinema such as Alice Guy Blaché, horribly overlooked in a hugely male dominated profession. It's not fame Cousins goes looking for but innovation. The narrative speeds on the wheels of human ingenuity, visiting diverse locations from Senegal to Palestine and meeting film-makers both famous and neglected. With over 1000 clips at his disposal, there really is no end to the story.

Artistic snobbery is a phrase surely familiar in Cousins' world,  but there is no whiff of pretension in this project; plenty of mainstream Hollywood culture is also prevalent. Of course, claims that Casablanca is not actually a classic may cause a sour face or two, but Cousins’ message seems more meditative than confrontational. Such film-making puts important emphasis on the individuality of taste and opinion in a world where mass media creates and shapes art.

In the age of digital recording and with movie making becoming increasingly accessible to all, it's about time we were granted a comprehensive history that is worthy in both scale and diversity.  It is unclear whether this heralds a revolution in film historiography, but it is hard not to be inspired and alerted to the unseen wealth of brilliant film-making both past and present. Anything that manages to puncture the languid balloon of Hollywood publicity and offers us an accessible taste of something else is worth trying. If anything, you’ll be the envy of the pub quiz after a single viewing of the Odyssey; the film round being a walk in the park after this journey.

The Story of Film: An Odyssey is on More4 every Saturday at 9:15pm.
Previous episodes available on 4od.