 Senses of Cinema brings us a double-shot of the Bulgarian-born experimental filmmaker, critic, writer, teacher and producer Raphaël Bassan, who has been a fixture in Paris's small but dynamic 'different' film scene since the 1960s. In the first, he is interviewed by fellow experimental filmmaker Viviane Vagh, who discusses with him his influences, his attitudes and what has kept him so dedicated to a marginalized art form his entire life. Talking about how he chose to cast his latest film, Lucy en miroir, with other experimental filmmakers, Bassan notes, "These people were singular in their philosophy. They did not have the desire to go down in history. It wasn't an issue for them to be talked about in the press. A film critic was not an especially necessary part of their environment." Next, Vagh brings us a translation of one of Bassan's most recent essays, "Identity of Cinema," a retrospective of the history and qualities of the cinema of difference, and concludes that "Without choosing the head-on attack attitude against the system, unlike the avant-garde cinema, the experimental cinema pursues its development thanks to groups of filmmakers whose visibility increases, and whose presence nourishes and renews film culture in general." — Leonard Pierce
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