Author: Bijan Tehrani

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…

HAIR LOVE, nominated for the Short Animated Film Oscar and directed by Matthew A. Cherry, Everett Downing Jr. and Bruce W. Smith, is a heartfelt animated short film that centers around the relationship between an African-American father, his daughter Zuri, and the most daunting task a father could ever come across – doing his daughter’s hair for the first time. We had the opportunity to interview Bruce W. Smith, one of the HAIR LOVE directors on camera: https://vimeo.com/389876500 Directors: MATTHEW A. CHERRY – In 2007, after retiring from the NFL, Matthew A. Cherry moved to Los Angeles, and switched gears to begin work…

KITBULL, directed by Rosana Sullivan and produced by Kathryn Hendrickson, reveals an unlikely connection that sparks between two creatures: a fiercely independent stray kitten and a pitbull. Together, they experience friendship for the first time. KITBULL is among the five nominees for the Short Animated Film Oscar. We had the opportunity of interviewing Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson on camera: https://vimeo.com/389659090 Rosana Sullivan, director of the KITBULL joined Pixar Animation Studios in April 2011. She worked as a story artist on THE GOOD DINOSAUR, and the Academy Award®-winning feature film COCO. Sullivan also directed the SparkShorts film KITBULL that debuted in February 2019.…

Sister, nominated for the Animated Short Film Oscar, is about a man thinks back to his childhood memories of growing up with an annoying little sister in China in the 1990s. What would his life have been like if things had gone differently? We had to interview Siqi Song , director of the Sister on camera: https://vimeo.com/389543939 Siqi Song is a Chinese writer & director currently based in Los Angeles. Her work has been recognized internationally by Sundance, SXSW, BAFTA, and ASIFA-Hollywood. Song graduated from California Institute of the Arts with an MFA in Experimental Animation, since then she has worked on…

ShortsTV, the pioneering platform dedicated to short entertainment (www.shorts.tv), working with Magnolia Pictures, will open “THE 2020 OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS on more than 500 screens across the United States on January 31, 2020, marking the 15th year of the release. THE 2020 OSCARS NOMINATED SHORT FILMS that will showcase the Live Action, Animation and Documentary short-film nominees’ compilation. Today, January 29, ShortsTV™ had a special screening of  THE 2020 OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS at the IFC Center in New York City and in select markets, and then roll out across the US and Europe on January 31. https://vimeo.com/372889013 This…

Blue Glass is an interesting, powerful and beautiful experimental film by Janusz Madej. After a decade of struggling to come to terms with his comatose wife, Alice’s deteriorating condition, Adam accepts the unusual offer from a pioneering Doctor that will aid his grieving process. But what happens when 3 becomes a crowd? And how far does the rabbit hole go when you are lost, in the illusion of reality? The following is an interview with Janusz Madej about making of BLUE GLASS: Bijan Tehrani: How did you come up with idea for BLUE GLASS Janusz Madej : It’s bit of a long…

At a time when the number of existing film magazines are diminishing, It is quite heartwarming to witness and celebrate the 38th anniversary of a monthly film magazine in Iran. When I went through the pages of the last issue of Film Magazine I found several quite interesting articles, studies, critics and stories. I spoke with one of the founders of this amazing publication, Abbas Yari. Mr. Yari told me that with two of his friends, Houshang Golmakani, Massoud Mehrabi,  started a publication called Cinema in video, it was the time of a terrible war between Iraq and Iran. Enemies…