Author: Bijan Tehrani

Babe’s and Ricky’s Inn, directed by Ramin Niami, chronicles the last days of one of the most unique and vibrant blues clubs in the world.For over fifty years, Laura Mae Gross ‘Mama’, an African American woman from Mississippi, brought musicians together, regardless of race, age, or gender, in a place where only the music mattered. The club was originally located on legendary Central Ave, in South Central LA. ‘Mama’ created a place where people such as Johnny Lee Hooker, BB King, Albert King, and others shared the stage with newcomers in an open, creative, and safe environment. The film shows…

Set on the French Riviera in the summer of 1915, Gilles Bourdos’ lushly atmospheric drama RENOIR tells the story of celebrated Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, in declining health at age 74, and his middle son Jean, who returns home to convalesce after being wounded in World War I. The elder Renoir is filled with a new, wholly unexpected energy when a young girl miraculously enters his world. Blazing with life, radiantly beautiful, Andrée will become his last model, and the wellspring of a remarkable rejuvenation. At the same time, Jean also falls under the spell of the free-spirited young Andrée.…

Two times a week, when I go from Santa Monica (where I teach), to the CWB office in Burbank, I have to face the notorious LA traffic—sometimes taking hours to complete the 20 mile trip. It was just a few weeks ago on a rare rainy day in L.A. when I experienced the worse traffic jam of my life. I had just entered the freeway, hoping that in an hour I would be in the office, finishing and posting a video report on an exhibition of Italian hats I was working on; I had promised a few people that this…

Dr. Amir Hooshang Kavoosi, Iranian Film Historian and filmmaker passed away today in a Tehran Hospital. Mr. Kavoosi that had his film education in France, for decades helped to educate thousands of film students that are now well-known filmmakers working in Iran and outside the country. Mr. Kavoosi was also a film critic that fought for years to bring awareness to the audiences against the main stream Iranian Films made before the revolution (most of them copies of cheesy Hollywood and Bollywood films) and used the term “Farsi Films” for them, indicating that the only relationship of these films to…

The LEE STRASBERG Theatre & Film Institute, one of the most prestigious acting schools for theater and film students in the world, has sponsored Cinema Without Borders Awards at a plethora of different film festivals and events. The most recent of these occasions is the Cinema Without Borders and Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute’s “Young Acting Talent Award”, given to Golsa Nesari. The Iranian-born actress, also a recent “Queen of the Universe” winner in addition to her Top 10 finish at the Miss Universe pageant, received a certificate for an upcoming Method Acting Intensive provided by The Lee Strasberg…

As a traditional film editor, I have constantly been searching for tools that simulate old-school methods. One of the programs that is being heavily used in current Film and TV editing is Avid Media Composer. Independent and international filmmakers has always the impression that Avid Media Composer is a very expensive package only targeted for the major studios, not the average filmmaker or film editor. The reality is, however, that the price of media composer has fallen drastically during the last few years. Now, it is affordable for many of us who are looking for a professional and serious solution…

In Gun Hill Road , Enrique (Morales) returns home to the Bronx after three years in prison to find the world he once knew has changed. His wife, Angela (Judy Reyes, Scrubs, Oz), struggles to hide an emotional affair, and his teenage son, Michael (striking newcomer Harmony Santana, nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Independent Spirit Awards), explores a sexual transformation well beyond Enrique’s understanding.Unable to accept his child, Enrique clings to his masculine ideals while Angela attempts to hold the family together by protecting Michael. Still under the watchful eye of his parole officer (Isiah Whitlock Jr., HBO’s…

Azadeh Ghotbi is an international artist in the literal sense:; She was born in Iran, studied at Brown University and at INSEAD, lived most of her life in France & the U.S., and is currently based in Germany. Azadeh, an innovative painter, has had over 21 group and solo exhibitions of her work around the world. Last month, I had the opportunity of interviewing her over the phone for CWB. Bijan Tehrani: Looking at your paintings, I find a lot of similarities between all of the paintings but at the same time, like members of a family, they have their…

To learn about the new Acer Aspire Ultrabooks we had an interview with Eric Ackerson, Acer America’s senior product marketing and brand manager. Ackerson manages Acer’s mobile product marketing programs and helps the company realize strategic opportunities to develop and deliver winning products for the United States and Canada. His responsibilities include quality improvement initiatives for the OOBE (out of box experience), market analysis, communication, and product EOL (end of life) management for Acer and Gateway-branded notebooks, Ultrabooks and tablets. Prior to Acer, Ackerson was the director of marketing for Patriot Memory, where he developed the company’s new brand identity,…

Augustine, directed by Alice Winocour , is an examination of the real case story and unusual relationship between Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot, the pioneering 19th century French neurologist – whom Sigmund Freud studied under – and Augustine, his star teenage patient. After suffering an inexplicable seizure which leaves her paralyzed on her right side, 19-year-old illiterate kitchen maid Augustine (27 year-old singer-turned-actress Soko in a break out performance), is shipped off to Paris’ all female psychiatric hospital Pitié-Salpêtriere which specializes in detecting the then-fashionable ailment of ‘hysteria’. Augustine captures the attention of Dr. Charcot (Vincent Lindon, Mademoiselle Chambon, Welcome) after a…