The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch, is a very funny and intelligently made movie by Michael Steiner. The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch is Switzerland’s Oscar entry selection and had a great box office revenues in that country and now is ready to stream on NETFLIX. At Cinema Without Borders we had the opportunity of interviewing Michael Steiner about making of The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch. Please listen to the podcast of this interview: https://soundcloud.com/user-222526075/the-awakening-of-motti-wolkenbruch?in=user-222526075/sets/cwb-podcast The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch, is the story of Motti Wolkenbruch , a young man that through all his life has behaved, and lived up to his family‘s expectations, especially those…
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 always admired artists that never stop exploring new ways of expressing themselves through their art. The artists whose fire inside them grows with their age instead of turning into the dust of experience. Azadeh Ghotbi–a painter, sculpture and photographer–is among these artists. I enjoy taking a vacation from the chaotic world we live in and spend my time with her artwork, enjoying her exciting and uniquely deep way of looking at life. Bijan Tehrani: Please tell us about the “Rooted UpRooted” exhibition, its theme and your participation in it. Azadeh Ghotbi: I was invited to participate in a…
American-Iranian actor Payman Maadi will be awarded the 2019 Stockholm Achievement Award for his unique quality of reaching through the screen, past prejudices and over borders. Maadi will accept the Bronze Horse at the Nordic premiere and red-carpet screening of his film Just 6.5 (2019) during the Stockholm International Film Festival.The film is competing for the prestigious Stockholm Impact Award. The festival said that this years’ achievement award went to Maadi for his ‘world-class role performances that have enriched great cinema.’ ‘With his powerful and insightful role interpretations, he opens a door for the audience to go beyond the big…
20th edition of Polish Film Festival, LA award ceremony was held at Writers Guild Theater on Friday October 18th. Festival opening/award ceremony was exciting and splendid like the last 19 years of the festival. The only discouraging news came when Vladek Juszkiewicz, founder of Polish Film Festival, LA announced his resignation as director of the festival for 2020 and years after. For us at Cinema Without Borders witnessing devotion and sacrifices of Vladek in the last 20 years this was a big shock and we hope he changes his mind as I said in my speech at the award ceremony, without Vladek, Polish…
LUCAS – International Festival for Young Film Lovers, announced the winning films of the festival in an award ceremony in Frankfurt, Germany. Lucas International Film Festival For Young Film Lovers started on September 19th and concluded on September 26th. This year for the second time Cinema Without Borders offered award it’s GoE Bridging The Borders Award sponsored by Go Energistics at this festival. At the award ceremony on September 26th after greetings and opening remarks, Yeganeh Taheri, CWB German Editor and a jury member, read the jury statement: “This year, our jury had a very difficult time choosing the winner of…
20th edition of Polish Film Festival, LA will run from October 18th to October 24th. The award ceremony of the festival will be held on the opening night and Cinema Without Borders will present its GoE Bridging the Borders Award sponsored by Go Energistics to the best Polish short film. Jury members of Cinema Without Borders are: Susan Morgan Cooper Susan Morgan Cooper is a Director/Producer/ Writer and her credits include: To the Moon and Back, Documentary, Director/Producer/Writer 2016 (A cinematic act of love and courage’ … Broadway World) – Hopper [In his own words] Documentary, Producer/Writer 2013 (“I was…
In SASHKA (2018) – a short film by Katarzyna Lesisz that will be screened at 2019 Polish Film Festival Los Angeles, Sasha, a young Ukrainian, receives a message about death of a man with whom she took a fictional marriage to get Polish VISA. The funeral of her husband gives her an opportunity to meet her beloved Piotr, who arranged her marriage years ago and decided to leave her with no explanation. https://youtu.be/7uaXk__dUTw The following is our interview with Katarzyna Lesisz, director of SASHKA: Bijan Tehrani: How did you come up with the idea of SASHKA? Katarzyna Lesisz : I was always interested in telling…
“As an American-Iranian filmmaker I spent most of my life outside the U.S., therefore I had no idea how it is to live under the shadow of gun violence. When I moved to California 30 years ago, I tried hard to understand the love for guns. I tried to understand why people needed guns at home. I was told that this is our 2nd Amendment right and it is part of U.S. Constitution, so it is sacred. I also never understood why constitutions cannot be rewritten; why we think they are untouchable. There are many old and fanatic beliefs that…
I wish all the fans of cinema as art could attend 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival. I call this festival amazing as it offers one of the best collections of international and Canadian films, but it is not only the very strong line up of the festival that makes it so attractive to attend, but also all its side events, such as industry seminars, Q&A sessions, live screenplay reading and music performances. Vancouver International Film Festival runs for sixteen days from Thursday , Sep 26 to Friday Oct 11th. To learn more about 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival we interviewed Curtis Woloschuk, Associate…
Every month at Cinema Without Borders and CineEqual, we receive numerous emails and phone calls from independent, international filmmakers of social justice cinema, seeking help in making or distributing their projects. Help is wanted everywhere. On September 2nd, 2019 alone, social justice cinema filmmakers from the US, UK, Iran, Bangladesh, France, Pakistan, Germany, Canada, South Africa, and Thailand contacted us looking for help. Considering today’s world political climate that beckons for awareness of social justice issues, we have decided to introduce and spotlight organizations that offer support for independent filmmakers working on social justice projects. SIMA Studios, the organization we’re…