Author: Bijan Tehrani

Heavenly Shift directed by Márk Bodzsár is one of the films participating in Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles 2014. Death does not select, man does. – Set in Budapest, Heavenly Shift offers an eerie insight into the everyday lives of a rather extraordinary ambulance crew. The film’s main character is Milan, a young refugee from the Balkan War, who joins a team of paramedics but inadvertently ends up involved in the funeral business in order to finance his fiancée’s rescue from the hostilities. MILÁN (András Ötvös) the half Serbian, half Hungarian guy deserts from the Croatian army in 1992,…

14th edition of Hungarian Film Festival, LA will run from November 14 to November 20 in Los Angeles. In order to learn about 2014 festival screenings and events we interviewed Bela Bunyik Founder and Director of the Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles Bijan Tehrani: Please tell us about the growth of Hungarian Film Festival, Los Angeles over the last 14 years.Bela Bunyik: We brought to the United States Robert Koltai’s film We never die. The success of this film which included an HBO acquisition and sell out houses at the Laemmle Theater (the venue for most of the Foreign…

AFI FEST 2014 will run from November 6 to November 13. As in years passed, we had the opportunity to interview Jacqueline Lyanga, Festival Director, the American Film Institute’s (AFI) annual film festival in Los Angeles.For Jacqueline Lyanga, it’s a position that she has held since 2010, but she has worked for AFI since 2005 as a programmer and producer of year-round and festival programs. Ms. Lyanga travels all over the world to most of the major international film festivals and markets to find films to showcase to AFI FEST’s Los Angeles audience. Prior to working for AFI FEST, Jacqueline…

AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda is an unconventional biography about an Indian Swami who brought yoga and meditation to the West in the 1920s. This feature documentary explores the life and teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, who authored the spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi, which has sold millions of copies worldwide and is a go-to book for seekers, philosophers and yoga enthusiasts today. It was the only book that Steve Jobs had on his iPad, and he arranged to give away 800 copies of it to the dignitaries who attended his memorial service. It was also a point of entry…

To review the finding out about the success of 2014 Polish Film Festival, Los Angeles we had an interview with Vladek Juszkiewicz, director of the festival.Bijan Tehrani: Looking back at the 2014 Los Angeles Polish Film Festival, how happy are you with the outcome?Vladek Juszkiewicz: As the organizer of the Festival, I will never be fully satisfied with the outcome. Attendance was very good, but I would like it to be better. People like the program, but there were some films missing. For example, I could not get this year films about the Warsaw Uprising which happened 70 years ago.…

Strong Coffee Isn’t That Bad winner of Cinema Without Borders award for the Best Short Film at Polish Film Festival, LA, is about relationship between a father and a son. In this comedy-drama, the son comes back home after 18years abroad. Now you have two men that are too stubborn to admit their true feelings for each other. Alek Pietrzak director and writer of Strong Coffee was born in 1992 in Plock, Poland. Alek first graduated from the Music School in piano class. Then he studied at the Warsaw Film School and worked as volunteer at the Camerimage International Film…

LIFE FEELS GOOD is about the life story of Mateusz that has cerebral palsy. In addition to his obvious physical handicap, he was diagnosed at a very early age as a mentally disabled person with no communicative ability. After twenty five years, however, it turned out that apart from his physical problems, he was a perfectly normal, even quite intelligent person. The film is a chronicle of his life. We get to know Mateusz now, when he is 30 and is institutionalized at a clinic for the mentally disabled. He is about to be examined by a committee which will…

Set in 1969, ONE WAY TICKET TO THE MOON, written and directed by Jacek Bromski, centers on two brothers as they travel across Poland in search of a few instant life experiences. When Adam is drafted into the Polish army and is sent to serve in the submarine section of the Navy, he sets off for the military base in Swinoujscie, along with his older brother Antoni. The two head for the Polish coast, a journey across Poland lasting several days and bringing about visits with old friends, as well as new acquaintances. Antoni’s plan is to make sure that…

BIG LOVE happens in a big city in Poland. Emilia, 16 years old, meets handsome and manly Maciek (played by Antoni Pawlicki) who is seven years older than her. Maciek introduces the girl to the fascinating world of passion. However, the fascination gradually fades away. Emilia gets admitted to university, she wants to discover the world, to get to know other people, to become independent of Maciek. The romantic idyll is coming to an end, the relationship becomes toxic for both sides… BIG LOVE will be screened at 2014 Polish Film Festival, Los Angeles. Antoni Pawlicki (playing Maciek in BIG…

Based on Mosab Hassan Yousef’s bestselling memoir Son of Hamas, THE GREEN PRINCE exposes a complex world of terror, betrayal, and impossible choices. Through exclusive first-hand testimony, dramatic action sequences, and rare archival footage, decades of secrets come to light in this unflinching exploration of a profound spiritual transformation and the transcendent bonds of friendship. THE GREEN PRINCE directed by Nadav Schirman, will challenge much of what you know about the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bijan Tehrani: What originally motivated you to make “The Green Prince”?Nadav Schirman: A friend of mine had alerted me to the book and I started reading…