(Cover) - EN Movies - Roger Corman has described cinema as "the only art".

The 85-year-old producer-and-director famously acted as a mentor to acclaimed moviemakers such as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, and his films such as 1960's The Little Shop of Horrors helped launch the careers of stars including Jack Nicholson.

Roger gets frustrated when people don't consider cinema to be a true art form, as to him it is the only real one.

"A while back I was talking to an English art critic at a dinner party," he told British newspaper The Guardian.

"And he said that motion pictures weren't art. And I thought, well, I'm going to needle this guy. I said, 'Not only are motion pictures art, they are the only art.' On the basis that all other art forms have their origins in antiquity and are therefore static.

"Movies are the only modern art form because they embody movement, which could not be done before, and because they are both an art and a business. They are a compromised art but that's entirely fitting, because we live in a compromised world."

Despite this opinion, Roger wouldn't use the word artist to describe himself. The modest movie expert considers himself as more of a crafter.

"I don't know if I would say I'm an artist," he smiled.

"I would say that I'm a craftsman. I attempt to ply my trade in the best possible way. If occasionally something transcends the craft, then that's wonderful." (C) Cover Media