Author: Bijan Tehrani

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…

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…

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…

The film “The Great Dictator”, directed by Charlie Chaplin, is one of the most brilliant and courageous works in the history of cinema; a film that, in 1940—when the world had not yet fully grasped the depth of the catastrophe of fascism and Nazism—dared to boldly critique dictatorship, the cult of personality, and politics rooted in hatred. In this film, Chaplin not only creates a comedy but crafts a work that is, at its core, a human, moral, and political manifesto against tyranny; a manifesto that, more than eighty years later, still resonates and appears strikingly contemporary in the face…

An exclusive, engaging, and insight-rich conversation with Shahab Hosseini My first meeting with Shahab Hosseini was in Bahman, four years ago, at the home of my dear friend Shirin Jahed, the distinguished Iranian television director to whom many well-known figures in Iranian cinema and media owe a great deal for her talent and creative vision. Thanks to Ms. Jahed, we celebrated the birthdays of Shahab Hosseini, my longtime friend and companion Abbas Yari, and myself—all of us born in Bahman—with a cake and a few candles. From that very first encounter, I found Shahab to be modest, gentlemanly, and warm-hearted.…

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, few powers in the world have intervened in the political and military affairs of other nations as frequently as the United States. These interventions have taken many forms: direct wars, covert coups, intelligence operations, and economic pressure. Official narratives have often framed such actions with phrases like “defending freedom,” “fighting dictatorship,” “combating terrorism,” or “protecting global security.” Yet when history is viewed from the perspective of the people living in the countries affected by these interventions, a different picture often emerges—one of governments overthrown, fragile democracies destroyed, and populations forced to bear the human…

On a night when the global film industry gathers to celebrate artistic achievement, glamour, and the mythology of cinema, the 2026 Academy Awards unfolded with their usual spectacle: red carpets, emotional speeches, orchestral swells, and carefully rehearsed gratitude. The ceremony once again confirmed what the Oscars have always been extraordinarily good at doing—celebrating the dream factory of Hollywood while remaining curiously detached from the waking nightmare unfolding in the real world. This year that detachment felt particularly stark. Across the globe, nations tremble under the weight of war, displacement, economic collapse, and the erosion of democratic institutions. Millions of people wake…

Not many years ago, when the series Yellowstone first aired, many critics and viewers felt that American television had once again managed to create a work rooted in the old myths of the Western while also telling a contemporary human drama. Yellowstone was not merely the story of a large ranch in Montana; it was the story of the collision of two worlds: the world of capital and ruthless development on one side, and the world of tradition, family, and land on the other. The character of John Dutton, played by Kevin Costner, was a figure who, despite his toughness…

Death Before Birth in Anti-War Cinema and in the Reality of Wars In every war, the number of victims is not limited to those who are killed on the battlefield or those who die beneath the rubble of destroyed cities. War has other victims as well—victims who rarely appear in any official statistics: children who never have the chance to be born. They have no names in cemeteries, no place in military reports, and no role in the heroic narratives of war. Yet the truth is that every war, before it takes the lives of the living, destroys a future…