Author: Bijan Tehrani

A Conversation with Bijan Tehrani About Asghar Farhadi, Editing, and the Hidden Language of Cinema Hayedeh Safiyari is one of the most accomplished editors in contemporary Iranian cinema. Her remarkable career includes collaborations with some of Iran’s most important filmmakers, particularly Asghar Farhadi, whose distinctive approach to storytelling owes much to the precision and sensitivity of her editing. A graduate of the School of Television and Cinema in Iran, Safiyari has established herself internationally while maintaining a notably modest and unassuming personality. Despite her extraordinary achievements, she remains remarkably humble, gracious, and generous in acknowledging the contributions of her colleagues.…

Michael Younesi is an Iranian-American filmmaker, writer, and director based in Los Angeles. A graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, he has spent over 15 years directing award-winning commercials and entertainment projects for major brands and studios, including Disney, Netflix, Samsung, and Mattel. He is the co-founder of Concrete Studios and SuperCinema, a new independent film studio focused on bold, original storytelling and theatrical distribution. His debut original narrative feature, Loose Ends, is a dark crime comedy inspired by the Persian-American community in which he grew up. In this interview Michael discusses his journey from making childhood films with…

Los Angeles, October 21, 2026 — Cinema Without Borders (CWB) is pleased to announce that beginning in 2027, its prestigious Bridging the Borders Award will also be presented at the Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS in Latvia, one of the oldest and most respected short film festivals in the Baltic States. This new partnership marks another important step in the international expansion of the award and strengthens Cinema Without Borders’ commitment to recognizing filmmakers whose work promotes understanding among people of different nations, cultures, religions, and backgrounds. The addition of 2ANNAS to the growing family of international film festivals…

There is a particular kind of suffering that belongs to those who have been forced to leave their homeland while the people they love remain behind. It is not simply homesickness or loneliness. It is the painful experience of living between two worlds, unable to return to one and not yet belonging to the other. Gazelle, directed by Nadir Sarıbacak and Samy Pioneer, approaches this experience through the deeply personal story of a Turkish immigrant whose struggle to reunite with his family gradually becomes a battle with his own mind. What makes Gazelle particularly compelling is its understanding that exile…

Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi used an appearance at the Rio Film Festival to deliver an unusually direct criticism of Hollywood’s portrayal of countries such as Iran, arguing that films like Argo perpetuate an American “white savior” mentality and reflect a broader assumption that the United States occupies a position above the rest of the world. Farhadi, who was in Rio to present Parallel Tales, was asked about Ben Affleck’s Argo, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture a year after Farhadi’s A Separation received the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Recalling his reaction to the film, Farhadi described…

Cinema Without Borders jury announced the winners of the Bridging The Borders Award for 2026 Lucas International Film Festival for Young Film Lovers in Germany. ILUMINADA (Belgium) By Nicolás Rincón Gille wins 2026 Bridging The Borders Award . Bridging the Borders Award is offered by Cinema Without Borders Foundation and sponsored by The Lonely Seal Company Group Hamed Soleimanzadeh, one of our jury members announced the winner of the Bridging The Borders Award at the closing ceremony of the festival. Here is a video from the award announcement: https://vimeo.com/1232166633?fl=tl&fe=ec&share=copy LUCAS – International Festival for Young Film Lovers is Germany’s oldest…

SILENCED NIGHTS directed by Lawrence Fajardo is Set in a slum in Manila’s infamous Tondo district, SILENCED NIGHTS follows an ordinary laborer whose life is transformed when he becomes the lone witness to the extrajudicial killing of a teenage boy by police officers. As fear spreads through his community and silence becomes a means of survival, the laborer is forced to confront the devastating personal cost of choosing between self-preservation and justice. Lawrence ‘Law’ Fajardo is a film and television director, producer, editor and writer. Born in Bacolod City, Fajardo studied Film and Theatre at the University of St. La…

I am astonished and fascinated by Asghar Farhadi’s new film, Parallel Tales. It is something genuinely fresh and strikingly different from this great filmmaker, who in his latest work gradually draws the viewer into the trap of an unfamiliar story. At first, it is not clear where you are being led, and you may begin to wonder what could possibly happen in this interwoven world, where the characters and spaces seem to have little or nothing to do with one another. And then, suddenly, Parallel Tales begins to work its magic. You become enchanted by its characters and by spaces…

On the Occasion of Iran’s National Cinema Day Iran’s National Cinema Day offers us an opportunity to look again at the long road Iranian cinema has traveled—a road filled with rises and falls, brilliant periods and difficult years, failures and achievements, hopes and disappointments. Yet when we look back at this history, one essential part of it has sometimes received less attention than it deserves: the presence of women actors and the role they have played in shaping the identity of Iranian cinema. The history of Iranian cinema cannot be written solely through the names of its great directors, its…

Hammad Zaidi, a Pakistani-American filmmaker, has built a career that moves easily between filmmaking, distribution, festivals, streaming, education, technology, and sports. He founded The Lonely Seal Company Group, which includes Lonely Seal Releasing, The Lonely Seal International Film, Screenplay, and Music Festival, The Lonely Seal Impact Fund, Lonely Seal Streaming, Film Bite, and The Story Oasis Fund. Hammad also joined the Board of Directors of Cinema Without Borders and is an Advisory Council Member of MELM – The Masters in Entertainment Leadership and Management at Loyola Marymount University (LMU). An award-winning creator, Zaidi is a member of the Producers Guild…