Author: Bijan Tehrani

Bijan Tehrani a film director, film critic and writer, works as editor in chief of Cinema Without Borders while teaching Language of Film and Film History at workshops nationwide. Bijan has won several awards in international film festivals and book fairs for his short films and children's books.

In BAD LIVING, Portuguese Oscar entry directed by João Canijo in a family-run hotel, by the Portuguese northern shore, lives a group of women from different generations of the same family, whose relationships with each other have grown poisoned by bitterness. They try to survive in the declining hotel, as the unexpected arrival of a granddaughter to this oppressive space stirs trouble, reviving latent hatred and piled-up resentments. https://vimeo.com/876337272 Cinema Without Borders: What motivated you to make BAD LIVING? João Canijo: Mostly the need to expose something about my deeper concerns. I had to stop wandering around themes disguising my…

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VERA Austrian Oscar Entry directed by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, is about the actress Vera Gemma who lives in the shadow of her famous late father, the Italo-Western actor Giuliano Gemma. She drifts through Roman high society, tired of countless plastic surgeries and superficial relationships. When, after a car accident, she takes the injured son of a working-class family to her heart, a moral parable unfolds that is as fascinating as it is tragic, trying once again to unite the rich with the poor, the lost with the found. The fact that contradictions are not only admitted but embraced…

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The opening/award ceremony of 2023 Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles was held at Laemmle’s Monica Film Center. Bijan Tehrani  , jury members, announced the winner of MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award for The Best Feature Film. CWB jury statement: At Cinema Without Borders, we have had the honor of offering our Bridging the Borders Award to the Best Feature Film at the Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles since 2014. MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award is offered by Cinema Without Borders and sponsored by MOZAIK Philanthropy. For this year we  amazing films to choose the winner from. The winner…

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Lily Afshar’s internationally admired Iranian/American musician and a professor of music passed away at the age of 63. She will be buried in her birthplace, city of Tonekabon in Iran. Lily Afshar personal story began in her native land Iran. Born in Tehran to a family with ancient roots in the northern region of Azerbaijan, at ten years of age she first encountered the guitar while visiting a cousin who was taking lessons. She told her father she loved the guitar; the next day he presented her with her first instrument and arranged for lessons. Her prodigious skill and love…

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Last week at the 2023 Lucas International Festival for Young Film Lovers in Germany, the Cinema Without Borders jury announced the winners of the MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award, as well as their Honorable Mention . TOTEM from Netherlands / Luxemburg / Germany, directed by Sander Burger won 2023 MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award and THE WORST ONES – (Les Pires) from France, directed by Lise Akoka and  Romane Gueret received jury’s Honorable Mention. MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award is offered by Cinema Without Borders Foundation and sponsored by MOZAIK Philanthropy. Chale Nafus, one of the jury members announced the winner…

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In terms of the rising French actors making a big impression on global cinema, there are few stars with as high a promise as Adèle Exarchopoulos. The actor is perhaps best known so far for her role in Abdullatif Kechiche’s 2013 romantic drama Blue Is The Warmest Colour, also starring Lea Seydoux. Exarchopoulos’ performance drew widespread critical acclaim and became the youngest person in the history of the Cannes Film Festival to be awarded the Palme d’Or. Elsewhere, Exarchopoulos has featured in the likes of Sibyl, Zero Fucks Given and the widely-praised Passages. With the spotlight firmly on the French actor, it’s interesting to know Exarchopoulos’ favourite films…

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The story of Cadejo Blanco is about Sarita who lives with her sister Bea in a working-class neighborhood in Guatemala City. One night after a party, Bea doesn’t come home. Convinced that her disappearance has something to do with Andrés, her sister’s dangerous ex, Sarita manages to befriend him and infiltrate his gang. Narrowly avoiding death at every turn, and with an unwavering determination in the face of the men who underestimate her, Sarita becomes increasingly involved with Andrés and the ruthless, violent world of his gang. As she searches for answers about what happened to her sister, she realizes…

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Cinema Without Borders announced the winner of the MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award at the award ceremony of the18th edition of SEEFEST, held at the UCLA Bridges Theater on Wednesday May 3rd. CWB Foundation is proud to offer its Bridging The Borders Award for 17  year at the prestigious SEEFEST South East European Film Festival LA.  Keely Badger, the executive director of MOZAIK Philanthropy, Bridging the Borders Award sponsor and Bijan Tehrani, Editor in Chief of Cinema Without Borders and Cinema Without Borders Foundation President, inbound the the Honorary Mention and the Winner of the Bridging the Borders Award. https://vimeo.com/823915127?share=copy…

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Burbank, California – April 4, 2023 – Today Cinema Without Borders Foundation announced I, Immigrant International Online Film Festival winning films in an online award ceremony. Bijan Tehrani Editor in Chief of Cinema Without Borders and Founder and Director of the I, Immigrant, opened the award ceremony by a report on the first edition of the festival: ” For our first edition of the I, Immigrant International Online Film Festival, organized by Cinema Without Borders Foundation, we received 449 submissions. The CWBF Selection Committee chose 33 films and from those films, two programmers, assigned by CWBF, nominated 17 films to…

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Tonight All Quiet on the Western Front by Edward Berger from Germany won the OSCAR for the Best International Film, and it was a surprise as a much better film, Argentina 1985 was among the nominees. https://vimeo.com/807397394 All Quiet on the Western Front Germany – Directed by Edward Berger https://youtu.be/hf8EYbVxtCY War breaks out in Germany in 1914. Paul Bäumer and his classmates quickly enlist in the army to serve their fatherland. No sooner are they drafted than the first images from the battlefield show them the reality of war. Other nominees were: EO Poland – Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski https://youtu.be/rrBeSQbdXmw…

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