Raphaël Bassan (born 1948) is a French
film critic
Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...
and
journalist
A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.
Roles
Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
, who has specialized in
experimental film
Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that does not apply standard cinematic conventions, instead adopting Non-narrative film, non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many e ...
and the history of cinema. He has also made three short movies.
Biography
Bassan was born in
Burgas
Burgas (, ), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fourth-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, an ...
,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
, of French nationality, in 1948. His family moved to Paris in 1949. He has been interested in all forms of cinema from childhood. He has been a poet since 1964. He was one of the founders with Hubert Haddad of the magazine, ''Le Point d'Être'' (which only published three issues). Feeling that he was locked into a post-surrealist form, he chose to write in a "more modern" style as a critic. After writing reviews in specialized magazines, his first "professional" job was for the magazine ''Politique Hebdo'' when it was founded in 1970. He co-founded the in 1971, the first French co-op of experimental cinema, and collaborated with a large number of magazines and various publications, notably the cinema magazines: ''Téléciné'' (1972–1976), ''Écran'' (1976–1980), ''Cinéma différent'' (1976–1980), ''La Revue du cinéma'' (1980–1992), ''Le Mensuel du cinéma'' (1992–1994), and the fine arts magazines: ''Canal'' (1978–1988), ''L'Art vivant'' (second formula: beginning of the 1980s), and the French national daily newspaper, ''
Libération
(), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...
'' (1985–1991) and ''
Senses of Cinema
''Senses of Cinema'' is a quarterly online film magazine founded in 1999 by filmmaker Bill Mousoulis. Based in Melbourne, Australia, ''Senses of Cinema'' publishes work by film critics from all over the world, including critical essays, career ...
''.
About Experimental films
As well as supporting cinema d’auteurs (
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as ...
,
Jacques Rivette
Jacques Rivette (; 1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine '' Cahiers du Cinéma''. He made twenty-nine films, including '' L'Amour fo ...
,
Jim Jarmusch
James Robert Jarmusch ( ; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director, screenwriter and musician.
He has been a major proponent of independent film, independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films such as ''Stranger Than Paradise'' ...
,
Manoel de Oliveira
Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira (; 11 December 1908 – 2 April 2015) was a Portuguese film director and screenwriter born in Cedofeita, Porto. He first began making films in 1927, when he and some friends attempted to make a film about Wor ...
,
Raoul Ruiz,
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański (; born 18 August 1933) is a Polish and French filmmaker and actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Roman Polanski, numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Britis ...
, or
Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (, ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Russian origin. He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. Works by Andrei Tarkovsky, His films e ...
) and writing about current productions, Bassan wrote about and encouraged experimental cinema. He was able to follow the evolution this cinema genre more attentively when it enjoyed a resurgence at the end of the 1990s, and write about its young artists. He has written in ''Bref'', a magazine dedicated to short films in which experimental cinema occupies an important part, from its first publication in 1989, His article, ''Experimental or simply filmmakers? An interview with Stéphane du Mesnildot,
Johanna Vaude
Johanna is a feminine name, a variant form of Joanna that originated in Latin in the Middle Ages, including an -h- by analogy with the Latin masculine name Johannes. The original Greek form ''Iōanna'' lacks a medial /h/ because in Greek /h/ coul ...
, David Matarasso and Othello Vilgard'', inaugurated this series in ''Bref'' number 47 (November–December 2000). He has written the film column for
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
since 1984, for ''Bref'', since its founding in 1989, for the
Encyclopædia Universalis
The ''Encyclopædia Universalis'' is a French-language general encyclopedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., a privately held company. The articles of the ''Encyclopædia Universalis'' are aimed at educated adult readers, and writ ...
since 1995 and for ''Zeuxis'' since 2005.
In 1980, he coordinated the numbers 10-11 of the magazine ''CinémAction'' with Guy Hennebelle: ''Avant-garde cinema'' (experimental and militant). He has participated in the ''Dictionnaire du cinéma'' (Larousse, 1986 coordinated by Jean-Loup Passek), in the ''Dictionnaire du cinéma mondial'' (published by Les Éditions du Rocher, 1994 and coordinated by Alain and Odette Virmaux), in ''L'Art du mouvement'' (Cinema Collection of the National Museum of Modern Art,
Centre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
, 1996, coordinated by
Jean-Michel Bouhours), in ''Jeune, dure et pure ! Une histoire du cinéma d'avant-garde et expérimental français'' (under the direction of
Nicole Brenez and
Christian Lebrat, published by
Cinémathèque Française
A cinematheque is an archive of films and film-related objects with an exhibition venue. Similarly to a book library (bibliothèque in French), a cinematheque is responsible for preserving and making available to the public film heritage. Typically ...
/Mazzotta, 2001) and in ''Une Encyclopédie du court métrage'' (coordinated by Jacky Evrard and Jacques Kermabon, Yellow Now, Côté Court, Pantin, 2004). Raphaël Bassan has been published in three ''Cahiers de Paris expérimental'': number 17, ''
Norman McLaren
William Norman McLaren, LL. D. (11 April 1914 – 27 January 1987) was a Scottish-Canadian animator, director and producer known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).Rosenthal, Alan. ''The new documentary in action: a caseb ...
: Le Silence de Prométhée''; number 20, ''Les 20 ans de Paris expérimental'' (in collaboration with Daphné Le Sergent and Marc Sautereau) and number 25: ''Cinéma et abstraction: des croisements'' (2007). In 2014, he brought together some of his articles on avant-garde films for a book, "Cinéma experimental. Abécédaire pour une contre-culture" (Published by Yellow Now, Belgium). For the first time in that kind of publication, the reader can find a large number of articles about French Filmmakers - from the twenties to the present - they're there with international artists of the genre such as Hans Richter and Michael Snow.
He have collaborated with Collectif Jeune Cinema from 1971 until today (2018) and defended experimental cinema in all kind of supports and practices
In 2021, he organized, with Frederic Tachou, Laurence Rebouillon and Théo Delyannis the celebration of the 50 th birthday of Collectif Jeune Cinema.
Other activities
He coined, in 1989, the theory of
cinema du look, in a study about the films of
Jean-Jacques Beineix
Jean-Jacques Beineix (; 8 October 1946 – 13 January 2022) was a French film director best known for the films '' Diva'' and '' Betty Blue''. His work is regarded as a prime example of the '' cinéma du look'' film movement in France.
Early li ...
,
Luc Besson
Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French filmmaker. He directed and produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), '' The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Associated with the '' Cinéma du look'' film movement, he h ...
and
Leos Carax
Alex Christophe Dupont (born 1960), best known as Leos Carax (), is a French film director, critic and writer. Carax is noted for his poetic style and his tortured depictions of love. His first major work was ''Boy Meets Girl (1984 film), Boy Me ...
, published by
La Revue du Cinéma
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
*La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
*"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...
. These directors were said to favor style over substance, spectacle over narrative; they mixed ''high'' culture and pop culture.,
He has been on numerous radio programs and held a small role in ''Le Prestige de la mort'' (2006) by
Luc Moullet.
Some of his poems were republished in the volume: ''Rites et rituels'' (Europe/Poésie 2001). He has also made three short films.
Publications
* ''Cinémas d'avant-garde (expérimental et militant)'', dir. Raphaël Bassan and
Guy Hennebelle, ''CinémAction'' n° 10-11, Spring-Summer, 1980
* «
Bokanowski/Kamler: Deux avant-gardes graphiques,» ''Canal'', n° 49, juillet–septembre 1982.
* «''
L'Ange'': Un météore dans le ciel de l'animation,» ''La Revue du cinéma'', n° 393, avril 1984.
* ''Rites et rituels'', book of poetry (1966–1972),
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
/Poésie, 2001
* ''Norman McLaren. Le Silence de Prométhée'', Les Cahiers de Paris expérimental", n° 17, 2004
* ''Cinéma et abstraction : des croisements'', Les Cahiers de Paris expérimental, n° 25, 2007
* ''Cinéma experimental. Abécédaire pour une contre-culture'' (Yellow Now, Belgium, 2014), in French
Filmography
*1969 - ''Le Départ d’Eurydice'' (16 mm, black and white, sound, 11 minutes), with Michèle Samama (
Michele Worth),
Anton Perich. Deposit :
Cinémathèque Française
A cinematheque is an archive of films and film-related objects with an exhibition venue. Similarly to a book library (bibliothèque in French), a cinematheque is responsible for preserving and making available to the public film heritage. Typically ...
. This film belongs to the Musée National d'Art Moderne (MNAM –
Centre Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...
) Film's Collections.
*1971 - ''Prétextes'' (16mm, black and white, sound, 13 minutes), with Michèle Samama (Michele Worth), Michel Maingois. Deposit :
Cinémathèque Française
A cinematheque is an archive of films and film-related objects with an exhibition venue. Similarly to a book library (bibliothèque in French), a cinematheque is responsible for preserving and making available to the public film heritage. Typically ...
.
*2004 — ''Lucy en miroir'' (16 mm, color and black and white, 45 mn), with Anne-Sophie Brabant and Élodie Imbeau. Distributed by
Le Collectif Jeune Cinéma.
This films was published in 2017 under the title ''Raphaël Bassan, le critique filmeur'' by the label Re : Voir Vidéo directed by the filmmaker .
Notes
References
* In French. “Raphaël Bassan” by Marcel Martin in “La Critique de cinéma en France”, under the direction of
Michel Ciment and Jacques Zimmer (Ramsay Cinéma, page 285, France, 1997).
Text by Viviane Vagh in Australian Webmagazine ''Senses of Cinema'' July–September 2007
External links
To the Encyclopædia Universalis Page on Collectif Jeune Cinéma Website (France)On Centre Georges Pompidou WebsiteParis experimental*
Contributions to cinema magazines: indexIndex of filmcritics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassan, Raphael
Living people
1948 births
French film critics
Bulgarian emigrants to France
French male non-fiction writers
People from Burgas