Seattle International Film Festival is one of the major film festivals in US and to look back at 2016 festival we sat down with Beth Barrett, Director of Programming of the Seattle International Film Festival.Beth started her work for SIFF in 2003, after years of being a festival-goer. She is responsible for managing all aspects of film programming, the staff of film programmers, and securing films and guests for the Festival. Beth is also instrumental in the programming and management of SIFF Cinema and SIFF’s other year-round programs. An aficionado of short films, she secured SIFF’s status as an Academy…
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.
We are getting close to the Palm Springs ShortFest, one of the most successful short film festivals in the world. Since 2012 HP Bridging the Borders Award offered by Cinema Without Borders goes to a film that helps bringing people of our world closer together. Every year and prior to the festival we introduce computer systems and digital tools that could help independent young filmmakers. The following interview with Mike Diehl and Christian Jones is about HP RGS and HP Z1 All-in-One Workstation. Mike Diehl is a Product Manager for the personal workstation business at HP’s Workstation Global Business Unit.…
In 1632, at the age of 6, Kristina Vasa became the first native, female sovereign of Sweden when her father died on the battlefield. Raised as a prince, Kristina grows up with ideas for modernizing Sweden and bringing an end to war. She struggles against the conservative forces in court who have no tolerance for these ideas nor for her awakening sexuality and quest for knowledge. Queen Kristina is an enigmatic young woman, beloved by her father, rejected by her mother and raised in a conservative Lutheran court. She is torn between reason and passion; between the ancient and modern…
2015 Polish Film Festival, Los Angeles 2015 that was held from October 13 to October 22 was a great success, attracting international film fans to watch the latest and best of Polish cinema.To look back at the festival, we had an interview with Polish Film Festival, Los Angeles founder and director, Vladek Juszkiewicz. Bijan Tehrani: Looking back at the 2015 Los Angeles Polish Film Festival, how happy are you with the outcome?Vladek Juszkiewicz: I do not think we have reasons to complain. Attendance was pretty good. The program was diversified; everybody could find something to watch and enjoy. Some of…
A century ago, Nikola Tesla dreamed of sending free wireless energy from a mysterious tower and lab called Wardenclyffe. Deteriorating for decades, the remains of his great work were almost lost forever. Until a grateful world united to save it. TOWER TO THE PEOPLE tells how Tesla’s perpetual struggles against the day’s corporate titans were ultimately vindicated generations later- using technology the visionary himself helped develop. Experience the mystifying past, inspirational present and exciting future of Tesla’s most ambitious experiment for humanity… at a lab called Wardenclyffe. Joseph Sikorski director of TOWER TO THE PEOPLE is an award-winning writer/director/producer whose…
McKay is a New York-based Emmy award-winning independent producer and director who hails from Kilmacanogue, County Wicklow, Ireland, and who created this new venture out of the multi city film festivals that he previously founded and produced in New York (Irish Film New York) and San Francisco, and co-founded in Los Angeles.Cinema Without Borders: Please tell us about Irish Screen America (ISA) and its goals.Niall McKAY : Irish Screen America, formerly known as Irish Film New York, supports and guides Irish media-makers by showcasing their work and fostering partnerships in the two largest cities for the entertainment industry in the…
THE SHADOW FOREST directed by Andrzej Cichocki won Cinema Without Borders Bridging The Borders Award for the Best Short Film at 2015 Polish Film Festival, Los Angeles. Here is the jury statement: “Cinema Without Borders Bridging The Borders Award for the Best Short Film at Polish Film Festival, Los Angeles goes to a film that shows that fear does not know any borders. Man has shared the fear of being hunted over the centuries and just in tragedy of those looking for a better place to live. The winner our award uses the language of filmmaking at its best to…
Polish short film INTERRUPTION shows when confronted to the hard situations in life, everyone tends to react differently. How we take it often depends on our physical endurance and our baggage of experiences. The film tells the story of a family, which during their normal day activity learns about some terrible news. INTERRUPTION has won Cinema Without Borders Special Jury Award at the 2015 Polish Film Festival Los Angeles. Adam Suzin, director, writer and cinematographer of INTERRUPTION was born in 1992 in Warsaw, Poland. A 3rd-year Cinematography student at The Lodz Film School. He participated in the ‘World from Down…
From the 1970s thru the 1990s, there was no hipper, no more outrageous comedy in print than The National Lampoon, the groundbreaking humor magazine that pushed the limits of taste and acceptability – and then pushed them even harder. Parodying everything from politics, religion, entertainment and the whole of American lifestyle, the Lampoon eventually went on to branch into successful radio shows, record albums, live stage revues and movies, including ANIMAL HOUSE and NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION, launching dozens of huge careers on the way. Director Douglas Tirola’s documentary DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD: THE STORY OF THE NATIONAL LAMPOON – tells…
Magdalena Lazarkiewicz, screenwriter and film director is one of the guests of Polish Film Festival Los Angeles that two of her films will be screened at the festival: KARSKI and DISAPPEARANCE. Magdalena studied cultural knowledge at the University of Wroclaw (graduated in 1976). In 1977-1978, she was the literary director of the Jaracz Theatre in Olsztyn. In 1982 she graduated from the Faculty of Radio and Television University of Silesia in Katowice. During her film studies she worked as assistant to Andrzej Wajda and her film debut came from under her Professor Krzysztof Kieslowski’s patronage and since then has been…