One of Scotland's leading film makers hopes that the fall out from the Brexit vote will lead to "great art."

Mark Cousins, whose recent film Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise, was performed live at the Edinburgh International Festival this year, said that he reacted to the Brexit vote result with dismay.

He said the consequences of the vote will undoubtedly make life difficult for artists and film makers, but the Edinburgh-based film maker and writer said the "flourishing" of cinema during the 1980s, when many artists were opposed to the Conservative governments of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, could be repeated now.

Cousins, originally from Northern Ireland and former director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, said: "I think it will make life more difficult, there are certain schemes that you will not longer get funding from.

"But artists love having something to kick against - look at the flourishing of cinema under Thatcher - so we have a new thing to be angry about.

"And we will express that anger and hopefully it fuels some great art."

He added: "There is a danger that there is a feeling that the universe ends at the UK border, and there will be a narrowing of horizons for people. That is really a risk.

"That is a risk for young people - if they don't have the opportunity to go and work in Europe, their horizons will narrow and that's really appalling that we do that to them. It's up to artists to keep pushing."

Cousins' latest film, his first fiction film, starred Neneh Cherry, the Swedish singer, and was shot in Stockholm and is called Stockholm My Love and features the music of Benny Andersson of Abba.

Cousins penned the script with Swedish producer Anita Oxburgh, and Stockholm’s Migma Film produced the film.

His recent documentary, Atomic, looked at the history of atomic power and included footage from Chernobyl and music from the Scottish rock band Mogwai.

Cousins added: "I think Brexit was the biggest political mistake that the UK as made in my lifetime.

"For me, I come from a working class background so members of my family are saying things that people are angry about. "But I think it was the answer to the wrong question.

"The question was would you like to stay in Europe? And the answer was 'Yes, we are angry at the political elites'. I think it is awful.

"It is creating huge waves in both societies, in Scotland and Northern Ireland. And the people who will be hardest hit will be the ones who are lower down the social ladder.

"It's terrible and it has to be reversible in a couple of generations. We will put up our hands and say 'Mea Culpa' and join up again."

Mr Cousins, who is working on several projects, including a another multi-part history in the vein of his acclaimed The Story of Film, said he does not believe that the UK has become more racist than it was previously.

He said: "I don't believe at a deep level, there has been a shift backwards.

"At the surface level it has become more acceptable, but I don't ever feel that people have become more racist, in fact I think popular culture has been rather good at increasing a sense of diversity."