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…
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.
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:…
“Revolution of Our Times” Team presents the US theatrical release of REVOLUTION OF OUR TIMES, the documentary film by Kiwi Chow. The film was the Official Selection at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, and it won the Best Documentary Award at the 2021 Golden Horse Festival in Taiwan. The documentary will have its theatrical premiere in New York at Stuart Cinema in Brooklyn (December 10-16) and at Laemmle Noho (December 10-16); the film will also screen at the Roxie in San Francisco on December 18th and 19th. Over the past fifty years, Hongkongers have fought for freedom and democracy but…
Panama’s Abner Benaim’s sophomore narrative feature Plaza Catedral is a dramatic thriller featuring actress Ilse Salas (The Good Girls, Güeros, Cantinflas) and Manolo Cardona (Narcos). Newcomer Fernando de Casta, who was chosen from over 250 kids who came in for open casting, is also amongst the principal cast. Benaim’s first narrative feature was the 2009 comedy Chance, but has since become a notable documentarian, with 2018’s Ruben Blades Is Not My Name won the Audience Award at the SXSW Film Festival in the 24 Beats Per Second category and was Panama’s submission for the 91st Academy Awards. Plaza Catedral is…
ISAAC, Lithuania’s Oscar Entry, is written and directed by Jurgis Matulevičius. The film starts in 1941 when the main character kills a Jew, Isaac, at the Lietukis garage massacre in Lithuania. Years later he is haunted by the images of the past and an increasing burden of guilt. The film discusses themes of friendship, love, regret and self-liberation in the difficult historical context of the Holocaust and post war Soviet era in Lithuania Here is our video interview with Jurgis Matulevičius, writer and director of ISAAC: https://vimeo.com/655457851 Jurgis Matulevičius graduated from the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy with a degree…