Sergio Navarretta’s The Cuban is an independent film with an impressive cast: the legendary Louis Gossett Jr., Canadian rising star Ana Golja, Academy Awards nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo, Lauren Holly and Giacomo Gianniotti. To learn more about The Cuban we had an interview with Sergio Navarretta, The Cuban’s director: https://vimeo.com/444742327 In The Cuban, nineteen-year-old Mina Ayoub is a pre-med student who has given up her dream of becoming a singer. Orphaned as a baby in Afghanistan, Mina’s grandfather sent her to Canada at the age of eight to live with a lone aunt, Bano. A former doctor herself, Bano wants nothing…
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.
I have known Michael Frank for almost thirty five years and I met him for the first time in Finish embassy in Tehran, when I was receiving my visa to attend the Tampre Film Festival as a jury member. Michael just rushed to meet me as I was the first person in Iranian film industry he had encountered. I found Michael s young msn full of energy and love for people, Back then I could not imagine that later we will get involved in a few projects and become close friends. Lately I had the opportunity of interviewing Michael Franck…
Farah Nabulsi director of The Present, the Palestinian film and winner of GoE Bridging The Borders Award at 2020 Palm Springs ShortFest International is a down to earth and fascinating person. Farah Nabulsi is an activist young filmmaker that in The Present shows her power of use of language of cinema and her understanding of the world problem, the new colonialism. Lately Farah Nabulsi sent us a thank note for receiving our GoE Bridging the Borders Award: ” I just wanted to reach out and thank you for choosing our short film, The Present, to receive the GoE Bridging the…
I met Ali Murat Erkorkmaz twenty years ago in an international animation conference in London. He was full of energy and new ideas and beyond that he was an inventor, and a genius in artificial intelligence. Hollywood was too too conservative to understand the future that Ali Murat was offering them. Using Ali Murat’s ideas Amazon and Apple could have presented Alexa and Siri much earlier. After twenty years I contacted Ali Murat in Izmir, Turkey, where he resides, and interviewed him for a short film about his work and life: https://vimeo.com/431255391 Ali Murat Erkorkmaz graduated from Istanbul Technical University…
It is almost over three years that I had the privilege of meeting Mark Pellington in person and interview him for his amazing body of work in narrative feature filmmaking and creating many of the best music videos of our time. Mark is a very kind and humble artist and human being. (Bijan Tehrani) I asked Mark, if he wants to pick his top 5 music videos which ones he may choose: https://vimeo.com/431371957 Mark Pellington is an American filmmaker, photographer, and artist. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Bill Pellington, a linebacker who played football with the…
Palm Springs International SHORTFEST has announced The Present, from Palestine, directed by Farah Nabulsi, as the winner of GoE’s 2020 Bridging the Borders Award, presented by Cinema Without Borders and sponsored by Go Energistics . The winner received a cash award of $2500 courtesy of Go Energistics. Palm Springs International ShortFest 2020 was held online do to the Corona virus pandemic. The 15 nominees for the 2019 GoE Bridging The Borders Award were: Call Center Blues (USA/Mexico) Director: Geeta Gandbhir, Container (Greece/USA) Director: Daphne Maziariaki, Dear Joel (Greece/France) Director: Thanasis Trouboukis, Deserter (Czech Republic/Ukraine) Director: Sasha Stelchenko, Fabiu (Austria) Director: Stefan…
Burbank, CA – June 10th, 2020: Today, Cinema Without Borders announced jury members for GoE Bridging The Borders Award at the 2020 Palm Springs International ShortFest Film Festival. The Bridging The Borders Award at the 2020 Palm ShortFest will be given to the most successful film in bringing the people of our world closer together. GoE Bridging The Borders Award is presented by Cinema Borders and award sponsored and prize provided by GoEnergistics. The winner of Bridging the Borders Award will receive a cash prize of $2500. Cinema Without Borders’ jury members to decide the 2020 winner of the GoE…
The Human Rights Watch Film Festival presents its first full digital edition of bold new films that will be available nationwide, in response to this time of crisis. The film festival will feature in-depth online discussions with filmmakers, film subjects, and Human Rights Watch researchers. This first Digital Edition of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival will run from June 11 to 20, 2020. To learn more about the 2020 festival we had a phone interview with John Biaggi is the Director of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival: https://soundcloud.com/user-222526075/an-interview-with-john-biaggi John Biaggi is the Director of the Human Rights Watch…
Tribeca Enterprises and YouTube announced today the programming slate for We Are One: A Global Film Festival, which will feature over 100 films co-curated by 21 prolific festivals, hailing from 35 countries, in addition to talks, VR content and musical performances. The 10day digital event will celebrate global voices, elevate films that have the power to create change and bring audiences from around the world together to create meaningful connections. Assembling some of the world’s most talented artists, storytellers and curators around a central effort to provide entertainment and offer relief in the form of supporting organizations responding to the…
In January this year and at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, I had the opportunity of meeting Eline Farideh Koning , the main character in Finding Farideh, Iranian documentary film, in person. Eline Farideh was quite enthusiastic about being part of making this important documentary, representing Iran in 2020 Oscars. After a successful and full house screening of Finding Farideh, I interviewed Eline Farideh on camera: https://vimeo.com/422546627 “Finding Farideh” is a feature-length documentary about an Iranian girl named Farideh, who had been abandoned in a holy shrine in Iran when she was 6 months old in 1976, and then…