Director Erin Lee Carr’s impressive feature debut Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop is the first-hand account of the NYPD’s “Cannibal Cop.” Carr takes on the well-known tabloid story of Gilberto Valle, the man charged with conspiracy to kidnap and eat women, and elevates it into a terrific documentary and debate on guilt vs. innocence in the tech era.Dubbed “The Cannibal Cop,” Valle was convicted in March 2013 of conspiring to kidnap and eat young women. Valle argued it was all a fantasy; the prosecution’s narrative convinced jurors otherwise. Valle was facing a possible life sentence when filmmaker…
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.
Every June Cinema Without Borders offers its HP Bridging The Borders Award at Palm Springs ShortFest International Short Film Festival and market. HP Bridging The Borders Award goes to a film that helps bringing people of our world closer together. HP Bridging The Borders Award is sponsored and its award provided by HP Workstation department. Several young filmmakers from around the world has won this award in previous years. We are planning to run five articles about HP Bridging The Borders Award and HP’s presence in film industry. For our first article we interviewed Rick Champagne is Worldwide Media &…
On May 7th 2015 and during Polish Animation Night organized by East Los Angeles College, Cinema Without Borders and Polish Film Festival, Los Angeles, Polish animator Greg Jonkajtys will receive 2015 Outstanding Achievements in Animation Award. Greg Jonkajtys is a filmmaker, animator and visual effects artist. He was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1972, graduated from Academy of Fine Arts and has worked in the advertisement, animation and feature film industry for over fifteen years.Greg directed his first animated short Mantis in 2000, and won several international awards including the BAF and Imagina Independent Talent Award. While working in Poland…
Set in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, A WOLF AT THE DOOR is based on real events, and is a nerve-rattling tale of a kidnapped child and the terror of the parents left behind. When Sylvia (Fabíula Nascimento) discovers her six-year-old daughter has been picked up at school by an unknown woman, police summon her husband Bernardo (Milhem Cortaz) to the station for questioning. There Bernardo confesses his extra-marital affair with the beautiful young Rosa (Leandra Leal), whom detectives believe to be involved in the kidnapping. Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Coimbra’s suspenseful debut feature captures the heightened anxiety of every…
ABBAS KIAROSTAMI, A REPORT is a film by Bahman Maghsoudlou about the world known Iranian filmmaker, Abbas Kiarostami, his work and his world. Film scholar and critic Bahman Maghsoudlou is the recipient of Iran’s prestigious Forough Farrokhzad literary award for writing and editing a series of books about cinema and theater. These include the widely acclaimed Iranian Cinema, which was published in 1987 by New York University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Maghsoudlou’s activities involving international cinema further include participation as panelist, juror and lecturer at a wide variety of film festivals, as well as serving as president of the…
A REASON, directed by Dominique Schilling is about Serena, a young, gay introvert and Nathan, her controlling older brother, that are forced to endure a dreaded family gathering at the house of their elegant elderly Aunt Irene to hear the reading of her will – this sets off an unexpected course of events that ultimately forces the clan to reevaluate their views on love, forgiveness, and family.Bijan: Tehrani: How did you come up with the idea of A REASON?Dominique Schilling: A friend of mine told me about a villa in the Pacific Palisades that was going to be torn down…
San Luis Obispo International Festival is one of the unique film events in this beautiful northern Californian city. To learn more about the festival, we interviewed Wendy Eidson director of Festival.Wendy Eidson was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Wendy got her first job at 14 as a production assistant on a television series, and that was it . . . she was hooked. After graduation from college and a short stint at art school, she began working full-time as an assistant director, working on many film and TV productions, including A CHRISTMAS STORY, SUSPECT, A NEW LIFE, ALFRED HITCHCOCK…
2015 Oscar’s Award Ceremony is on Sunday February 22nd. Among Oscar nominees there are three films from Poland nominated for four Oscars. To learn more about this great success of the Polish cinema we interviewed Vladek Juszkiewicz director and founder of the Polish Film Festival, Los Angeles. Bijan Tehrani: How significant is Polish films presence among Oscar nominees in 2015 comparing to previous years?Vladek Juszkiewicz: Never before in one year have there been three Polish films nominated to the Oscars with four nominations. This year we have IDA by Pawel Pawlikowski nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography…
Tangerines directed by Zaza Urushadze is one of the five nominees for the Best Foreign Language Film Award. Tangerines is a keenly-observed drama of compassion and hostility set in the midst of armed conflict in the Caucasus. It focuses on two Estonian immigrant farmers who live in northern Georgia where they grow tangerines. Despite looming conflict between Georgia and Abkhazian separatists in their area which causes any other civilians to flee, they decide to stay behind just long enough to harvest their fruit – and get caught in the fighting. A skirmish near their house leaves two wounded soldiers unable…
From first rehearsal to world premiere, BALLET 422 takes us backstage at New York City Ballet as Justin Peck, a young up-and-coming choreographer, crafts a new work. BALLET 422 illuminates the process behind the creation of a single ballet within the ongoing cycle of work at one of the world’s great ballet companies. New York City Ballet, under the artistic direction of Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins, boasts a roster of more than 90 dancers and a repertory of works by many of the greatest choreographers in the history of the art form. When 25-year-old NYCB dancer Justin Peck…