Cinema Without Borders is proud to present MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award for the 14 year at the prestigious SEEfest, South East European Film Festival LA. MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award offered by Cinema Without Borders and sponsored by MOZAIK Philanthropy goes to a feature film that helps bringing people of our world closer together. Winner will be announced on May 4th during the closing ceremony of the 17th Edition of the festival at the Fine Arts theater. SEEfest will run from April 27th to may 4th. Jury members for MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award are: Susan Morgan Cooper Susan Morgan Cooper…
Author: Bijan Tehrani
Bijan Tehrani
Bijan (Hassan) Tehrani Founder and Editor in Chief of Cinema Without Borders, is a film director, writer, and a film critic, his first article appeared in a weekly film publication in Iran 45 years ago. Bijan founded Cinema Without Borders, an online publication dedicated to promotion of international cinema in the US and around the globe, eighteen years ago and still works as its editor in chief. Bijan is has also been a columnist and film critic for the Iranian monthly film related medias for 45 years and during the past 5 years he has been a permanent columnist and film reviewer for Film Emrooz (Film Today), a popular Iranian monthly print film magazine. Bijan has won several awards in international film festivals and book fairs for his short films and children's books as well as for his services to the international cinema. Bijan is a member of Iranian Film Writers Critics Society and International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI). He is also an 82nd Golden Globe Awards voter.
The Seventh Edition of ELAC International Animation Day was held on March 26th by focusing on Iranian Animation. Organizers of the event were East Los Angeles College, Cinema and Without Borders Foundation, and Aduren Studio . In the first part of the program, nine short animated films were screened: Hajar’S Wedding by Mahin Javaherian 8 Min 2008 The Tree by Sare Shafipour 5 Min 2014 When I was a Child by Maryam Kashkoolinia 8 Min 2014 The Switchman by Mehdi Khoramian 10 Min 2016 The Fox by: Sadegh Javadi 10 Min 2017 Am I a Wolf? by Amir Houshang Moein 8…
Drive My Car wins the Oscar for the Best International Film. Other nominees were FLEE, Denmark, THE HAND OF GOD Italy, LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM, Bhutan and THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD Norway. https://vimeo.com/692922493 A sad and bad choice at the presence of THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, a much better movie and at the absence of the best international film of the year A HERO by Asghar Farhadi. It’s a shame for the academy and their voters.
When Pomegranates Howl written and directed by Granaz Moussavi tells a story of Hewad, a nine-year-old boy who lives on the streets in the capital of Afghanistan – Kabul. Following the loss of both his father and brother, Hewad decides to create a business by working as a cart pusher, which he enjoys doing every day. By working as such, and loading the carts with goods, he travels throughout Kabul in hope to raise enough money for his family. Hewad’s dream of becoming a movie star comes to live when he stumbles on an Australian photographer. Here is our video…
Amid war in Ukraine and the whole world condemning Putin for his war crimes, a few film festivals including Glasgow Film Festival, remove Russian films from their line up!!! May I ask why Russian filmmakers should be punished for a dictator’s wrong decisions and crimes? During the height of communist era no country band films made by filmmakers working in Russia, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungry and other communist block countries and amazing work of art revealing life under dictatorship was created. My question is what is next boycotting Chekhov, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky? Shame on the organizers of these film festivals, as…
A Hero, Iran’s Oscar entry and Academy Awards shortlisted film by Asghar Farhadi is about Rahim who is in prison because of a debt he was unable to repay. During a two-day leave, he tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint against the payment of part of the sum. But things don’t go as planned… The following is my interview with Mr. Farhadi about making of A Hero https://vimeo.com/673371558 Asghar Farhadi is among real authors of the world of cinema. You can watch his films without the credits and still know that is his work. Farhadi is faithful to…
In Playground, Belgium’s Oscar Entry in the Shortlist by writer-director Laura Wandel , the everyday reality of grade school is seen from a child’s-eye-view as an obstacle course of degradation and abuse. Following 7-year-old Nora and her big brother Abel, we see Nora struggling to fit in before finding her place on the schoolyard. One day, she notices Abel being bullied by other kids, and though she rushes to protect him by warning their father, Abel forces her to remain silent, while he endures more humiliation and harassment by his peers. Transposing the gritty realism of such filmmakers as Jacques…
Burbank, CA – January 19th 2022. Today Palm Springs International Film Festival announced its 2022 winners and A Hero by Asghar Farhadi won MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award. The Honorary Mentions went to Fear (Bulgaria/France), directed by Ivaylo Hristov and Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America (USA), directed by Emily Kunstler The Borders Award is presented by Cinema Without Borders and award sponsored and prize provided by MOZAIK. The winner of Bridging the Borders Award will receive a cash prize of $2500. In the following video, Keely Badger is Executive Director of MOZAIK and a jury member…
In Compartment No. 6, Finland’s Oscar entry , shortlisted by Academy Awards for the Best International Film Oscar, a young Finnish woman escapes an enigmatic love affair in Moscow by boarding a train to the arctic port of Murmansk. Forced to share the long ride and a tiny sleeping car with a Russian miner, the unexpected encounter leads the occupants of compartment no. 6 to face the truth about their own yearning for human connection. To learn more about making of Compartment No. 6 we had an interview with its director Juho Kuosmanen: https://vimeo.com/666612504 JUHO KUOSMANEN (director, co-screenwriter) Juho Kuosmanen…
Post Mortem is Hungarian Oscar Entry directed by Péter Bergendy. In order to learn more about making of the Post Mortem, we had a video interview with Péter Bergendy, director of the film: https://vimeo.com/658371185 In 1918, towards the end of the First World War, on a battlefield, the German soldier Thomas is left for dead after an artillery explosion, being thrown into the mass grave; however, an older soldier sees him still breathing in the pile of corpses and pulls him out of a flooded trench, where in a semi-conscious state due to the explosion, he had a strange vision:…