Mark Cousins’ Alfred Hitchcock Documentary Gets North American Deal

EXCLUSIVE: Cohen Media Group has acquired all North American distribution rights to filmmaker Mark Cousins’ Alfred Hitchcock doc My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock.

The film premiered at Telluride and examines the Psycho and Vertigo director’s vast body of work, exploring his techniques, themes and obsessions. The plan is for a theatrical release later this year.

Cousins, who utilizes actor and impressionist Alistair McGowan to portray Hitch in voiceover, connects the stylistic dots running through the director’s 50-plus films, from revered classics like North by Northwest, Psycho and Rear Window to less frequently discussed but intriguing works such as The Paradine Case, Sabotage and more, stretching all the way back to his silent films. 

The deal, announced by Cohen Media Group Chairman and CEO Charles S. Cohen, was negotiated by CMG Senior Vice President Robert Aaronson and Cleo Veger, Head Sales at London-based film sales company Dogwoof.

Among positive reviews, Deadline’s Todd McCarthy called the film “a frisky, free-wheeling, deeply informed salute.”

The film is produced by Hopscotch Films, who are long-time collaborators with Cousins including the original The Story of Film, Women Make Film, and the 2021 Cannes premiere The Story of Film A New Generation.

Cousins said: “Alfred Hitchcock psychoanalyzed the 20th Century. He attracted us with the beauty of Ingrid Bergman and the glamour of Cary Grant then, when he had us entranced, he found our fears, our secrets, our weaknesses. In this film I’ve tried to find a new way of showing how he did this, how his imagination worked. Hitchcock’s life ended long ago, but did his themes? I’m delighted to be working again with Cohen Media.”

Cousins has explored the world of cinema in dozens of projects, from The Storms of Jeremy Thomas, Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema (both also Cohen releases) to The Eyes of Orson Welles and the epic 16-hour The Story of Film: An Odyssey.