When I interviewed Nancy Kelly last week, it was like talking to a friend that I knew for centuries. She is full of his hearth talking to you and supper modest and generous in sharing her interesting and exciting stories about making of Thousand pieces of gold. I have watched Thousand pieces of gold a few times since last week (I can not believe that I missed it thirty years ago when it was released for the first time!) and it’s one of those movies that is like a breathtaking scenery, regardless of how many times you have seen it, it…
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.
Did You Know? More than 1 in 6 U.S. healthcare workers are immigrants. In the states hardest hit by the coronavirus, California and New York, more than a third of all healthcare workers are immigrants. Also there are other immigrant Essential Workers on the front lines making sacrifices in order to save lives and keep the country running in the brutal battle against the Coronavirus. Essential Workers have not been able to work from home during the shutdown, but rather have continued to go to their normal jobs, bringing them into contact on a daily basis with COVID-19 patients or…
I woke up today to a powerful and beautiful short film by Iranian/Dutch filmmaker, Reza Alamezadeh, My Corona Days Days Tale. This well thought and carefully shot using the social distancing rules by guidance of the filmmaker living in isolation at quarantine at his home from his granddaughter and her family. Reza Alamezadeh’s My Corona Days Days Tale with no doubt is the best short film I have seen so far dealing with our new way of life under the threat of the Coronavirus. Rexza casts a ray of hope to our lives and shows the way to other filmmakers to start…
How could I have missed a beautiful film like Nine Lives by Rodrigo Garcia, a film about nine women, in nine episode, happening in real time. How could I have known so little about this great filmmaker? If Rodrigo Garcia was French, now his amazing films were all over the film clubs and film critics would have compete to adiring and analysing them. I am going to write about each one of Rodrigo Garcia very soon and we help you to find them and watch them. I owe this to myself for my ignorance and not knowing his body of amazing films.…
Oh, God, it should have been over a half century since the last time that I met Manuchehr Shamsaei. Manuchehr was the lighting engineer in National Iranian Radio and Television, a brilliant artist. Back then I was working as a film director at NIRT and also writing film critics for several publications. With Manucher we shared love for Italian cinema and at any opportunity we would talk for hours about films and I was always surprised by his rich knowledge of arts. Many times our favorite topic was lighting in Michelangelo Antonioni films, and I have to admit that I…
The 15th Panorama of Maghreb and Middle Eastern Cinemas, a Parisian international film festival, will review a lineup of the latest Iranian movies in a special section. Feature films “Dressage” by Puya Badkubeh, “Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness” by Masud Bakhshi, “Hendi and Hormoz” by Abbas Amini and “Esrafil” by Ida Panahandeh are among the films to go on screen in this section. Documentary films “Sonita”, a co-production from Iran, Germany and Switzerland by Iranian filmmaker Rokhsareh Qaem-Maqami and “Women According to Men” by Saeid Nuri will also be screened at the festival, which is scheduled to be held from…
Advocate- (Israel/Canada/Switzerland) is documentary feature film directed by Rachel Leah Jones & Philippe Bellaiche – This intimate and moving documentary spotlights fiercely optimistic and compassionate human rights attorney Lea Tsemel as she continues her lifelong mission of defending the defenseless, despite the torrent of backlash she receives for being an Israeli lawyer seeking justice for Palestinians accused of terrorism. Advocate was in Academy Awards Shortlist for Feature Documentary Oscar and it also won GoE Bridging The Borders Award at 2020 Palm Springs International Film Festival. To learn more about making of Advocate we had a phone interview with Rachel Leah Jones…
The 70th Berlin Film Festival, and the first under new leadership team Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, draws to a close this evening with the main prizes to be awarded at the Berlinale Palast. The festival kicked off on February 20 against a gloomy backdrop that included a terror attack in the German town of Hanau, fears about the coronavirus, the festival’s Alfred Bauer situation and local infrastructural challenges. https://youtu.be/HgyisKVoFzY Then, ahead of the awards ceremony tonight, climate activists said they would occupy the red carpet. The fest noted it had reached an agreement on a peaceful and “good solution,”…
Not only as a film critic, as someone that is under the spell of the silver screen, I love movies with fresh and new ideas. I rather watch an unperfect film that has a flame inside than a perfect cold movie. That is why watching Soroush Sehat’s Dance With Me! I loved it and enjoyed it, even if it has some flows and could have been even a better film. But it is one of the rare films from new wave of the Iranian films that does not have Asghar Farhadi or Abbas Kia Rostami syndrome. It stands well on…
Bahaman Maghsoudlou an Iranian/American filmmaker, has dedicated his life in recording valuable information about Iran’s contemporary art and culture. Bahman’s films are not only introducing Iranian artists and art to the world, but overtime it will turn into a treasure of information for future generations. I have always admired Bahaman Maghsoudlou for his tireless and continues work, but I had always been waiting for him to prove himself as a filmmaker with certain point of view. And all this has happened with his latest documentary feature, Bahram Beyzaie, A Mosaic Of Metaphors. Bahram Beyzaie,…. is a very powerful, artistic and…