Author: Bijan Tehrani

THE DISCIPLE, Finland’s Oscar entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Award, happens An island in the Baltic Sea in the summer of 1939. Thirteen-year-old Karl has come to work as an assistant to Hasselbond, the lighthouse master. Hasselbond at first rejects the boy because of his age, but Karl, who has grown up in an orphanage struggles desperately to stay on, using every opportunity to demonstrate how hard he can work. Finally, Hasselbond accepts him. Karl and Hasselbond’s oppressed son, Gustaf, become friends, but their friendship changes to rivalry and hate when Hasselbond begins to favor Karl over his…

Searching for her own identity as a cosmopolitan (Jew), documentary filmmaker Cintia Chamecki tells the story of her grandparents and their arduous journey from their Eastern European shtetl to South America to their final destination: Curitiba, Brazil. The film recalls how Curitiba’s first immigrants arrived well before World War II and assimilated to Brazilian culture with its mysteries and challenges, while preserving their Jewish heritage. And it portrays how this tightly knit community supported the second wave of arrivals, who had barely escaped the Holocaust, how everyone mourned those loved ones that perished in the concentration camps, how they dealt…

“Bethlehem”, Israel’s Oscar selection for the Best Foreign Language Film Award, tells the story of the complex relationship between Razi, an Israeli Secret Service officer, and his teenage Palestinian informant Sanfur.Sanfur is the younger brother of Ibrahim, a highly wanted Palestinian militant. Razi, determined to capture or assassinate Ibrahim, recruited Sanfur when he was just 15, investing all his energy in the kid and developing a very intimate, almost fatherly relationship with him. Sanfur, who has always lived in his brother’s shadow, thrives on Razi’s attention. Now 17, he struggles to navigate between Razi’s demands and his loyalty to his…

THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN, Belgium’s Official Entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, is a portrait of the great love affair between tattoo artist Elise (Veerle Baetens, The White Queen) and bluegrass musician Didier (Johan Heldenbergh). After bonding over their shared enthusiasm for American music and culture, they dive headfirst into a sweeping romance that plays out on and off stage — but when an unexpected tragedy hits their new family, everything they know and love is tested. Lead actor Johan Heldenbergh co-wrote the hit play that THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN is based on. It was adapted…

Cinema Italian Style 2013 opens November 14th at the Egyptian theatre with the U.S. premiere of Paolo Sorrentino’s THE GREAT BEAUTY, Italy’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film for the 2013 Academy Awards®. Sorrentino will be joined on the red carpet by Academy Award Winner Bernardo Bertolucci. Both directors will receive the Cinema Italian Style Award prior to the film screening. The opening night presentation is in collaboration with AFI FEST which will be presenting THE GREAT BEAUTY in its World Cinema program. Here is an interview with Alberto Di Mauro, director of the Italian Cultural Institute, Los Angeles about…

A Cinema of Discontent: Film Censorship in Iran, the latest film from Jamsheed Akrami, an Iranian/American filmmaker, deals with problems of filmmaking and censorship in Iran. Last week, we had the opportunity of speaking to Jamsheed Akrami about his film and estate of the filmmaking in Iran. Dr. Jamsheed Akrami is a former editor of the Iranian film magazines Film and Art and Film Quarterly. He has published extensively on Iranian cinema, presented dozens of lectures, curated several film series, and produced a number of films and videos, including a trilogy of feature-length documentaries on Iranian cinema: The Lost Cinema,…

Aglaya, the Hungarian film was adapted by, Director Krisztina Deák from Aglaja Veteranyi’s novel “Why the Child is Cooking in the Polenta”. The film centers on a very young girl who grows up in a family of circus artists from Eastern Europe. Their life of interdependence is a constraint and curse, as well as a source of joy, until the day the small community is torn apart. Aglaya will be screened at Hungarian Film Festival, Los Angeles. Bijan Tehrani: What inspired you to make Aglaya?Krisztina Deák: The story of my film is based on Aglaja Veteranyi’s autobiographical novel. For my…

AFI FEST 2013 will run from November 7 to November 14. 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…

THE SQUARE captures the immediacy and intensity of the revolution from the nexus of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, catapulting us into the action from the 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, through military rule, and culminating with the ousting of Mohamed Morsi in the summer of 2013. The film provides a kaleidoscopic, visceral portrait of the events as they unfold through the eyes of several passionate activists—including one member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a young liberal, Khalid Abdalla, who has acted in films like THE KITE RUNNER. Armed with nothing more than cameras, social media, videos posted to YouTube, and a…

Wednesday, October 2 was the opening performance for Danny DeVito and Judd Hirsch in Neil Simon’s “The Sunshine Boys” at the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre. Directed by Thea Sharrock, “The Sunshine Boys” continues through November 3, 2013. Joining Danny DeVito and Judd Hirsch is Justin Bartha, with Annie Abrams, Matthew Bohrer, Benjamin Burdick, Gibby Brand, Johnnie Fiori, Frank Kopyc and PaSean Wilson. Set and costume design by Hildegard Bechtler, lighting design by Neil Austin, music by Adrian Johnston and sound design by Cricket S. Meyers. Casting is by Jim Carnahan with Los Angeles casting by Mark B. Simon. The production…