Author: Bijan Tehrani

Few filmmakers embrace uncertainty as willingly as Iranian-born director Ramin Niami. His latest feature, Fade Away, was not born from years of development or elaborate financing. Instead, it emerged from a trip to Italy, a handful of trusted actors, an iPhone, and a willingness to trust instinct over convention. Set against the haunting beauty of the Umbrian town of Narni, Fade Away explores memory, exile, love, and emotional displacement through an intimate, psychologically charged story. Produced on a micro-budget and filmed with an almost nonexistent crew, the film represents one of Niami’s boldest creative experiments. In this conversation with Cinema…

Alfred Hitchcock never traveled to Iran. There is no photograph of him walking the streets of Tehran, no account of his presence in Shiraz or Isfahan, nor even any evidence that he devoted part of his life to the direct study of Persian literature. He was an Englishman, born in London at the close of the nineteenth century, raised in a Catholic environment, and later became one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of Hollywood. Yet every time I return to his films after years of watching cinema, I feel more strongly that an invisible thread connects his…

Today, I received the news of Marjane Satrapi’s passing with a heavy heart. She was an artist whom I had the privilege of knowing for nearly nineteen years. During those years, we stayed in touch from time to time, met at a number of cultural and cinematic events, and shared occasional conversations that, while often brief, remained memorable. Marjane was not the kind of person who ignored messages. Her replies were not always lengthy, but they were almost always thoughtful, kind, and respectful. That is why, two weeks ago, when she did not respond to a message I sent her,…

For Mother’s Day Throughout the history of cinema, the mother has never been merely a secondary or supporting character. She has often been the beating heart of the narrative, the guardian of memory, a symbol of love, suffering, sacrifice, resistance, and at times even repression and power. From its earliest years until today, cinema has constantly reinvented the image of the mother: sometimes as a sacred angel, sometimes as a broken woman, sometimes as a fighter, and sometimes as a lonely soul caught between love and destruction. Perhaps no relationship in cinema has possessed the emotional power of the bond…

The 7th of May marked the birthday of Asghar Farhadi, one of the most distinguished filmmakers in Iranian cinema — an artist who has become an exemplary model for many directors in Iran. During the 2010s, numerous Iranian films were influenced by his style, particularly in terms of subject matter, endings, and his unique approach to directing actors. Beyond the festivals held in his own country, Farhadi’s films have been nominated at many of the world’s most prestigious film festivals and have won major international awards, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a César Award, a Goya…

May 6th 2026 – Cinema Without Borders announced Father By GTereza Nvotová as the winner of the Bridging The Borders Award  at 2026 SEEfest. Our Father By Goran Stanković also received the Honorary Mention Diploma of CWB jury. Cinema Without Borders Bridging the Borders award is sponsored by 360 MEDIA CWB Jury Statement: The Winner of Cinema Without Borders Bridging the Border Award goes to the film Father which depicts the tragedy of a father accidentally causing the death of his own child. The direction, the acting and the script authentically illustrate the father’s gut -wrenching grief and the public’s condemnation. The…

On Saturday, May 16, 2026, East Los Angeles College and Cinema Without Borders will hold the 11th anniversary of the annual ELAC International Animation Day Festival, dedicated to Nationl Film Board of Canada Animation (2016 – 2026) This event will be held at East Los Angeles College, located at 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Monterey Park, CA 91754. Screening will be held at the Building S1 Screening Room 112. Free parking will be available in Structure 4. On the corner of W Floral Drive and Collegian Avenue. To easily get to the parking and the screening room please use this address…

The film Train Dreams is one of those rare works that unfolds with a remarkable calm, yet deep within, it resonates with the echo of a profoundly human epic—an epic not of flashy, exaggerated Hollywood heroics, but one drawn from ordinary, forgotten, seemingly simple lives that form the true pillars of a nation’s history. At a time when American cinema is often driven by rapid pacing, intricate plots, and reliance on visual spectacle, such a film feels like a contemplative stillness amid overwhelming noise—a stillness that allows the viewer to breathe, to think, and most importantly, not just to watch…

The 21st annual South East European Film Festival #SEEfest, co-presented by ELMA foundation for European Languages and Movies in America, is bringing to Los Angeles, U.S. premieres, European talent, and Industry panels and workshops from April 29 – May 6. The festival will showcase feature, documentary, and short films from the culturally rich area of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Throughout the 21 editions of the Southeast European Film Festival Los Angeles, Cinema Without Borders has presented its Bridging the Borders Award to the best feature film nominated by the festival programmers for this honor. For 2026, Nominees for Cinema Without Borders’ Bridging…

There are films you watch, and there are films that refuse to let you remain the same person afterward. One Battle After Another, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, is one of those rare works that does not simply unfold on screen—it unfolds inside you. Watching it, I felt not like a spectator, but like a participant in a moral and political reckoning that speaks directly to our time, especially to those of us who cannot ignore the realities of power, war, and responsibility. Anderson has always been a filmmaker deeply concerned with the contradictions of America, but here he reaches…