Author: Bijan Tehrani

The Austin Film Society began in 1985 with a group of friends getting together to watch films that weren’t distributed to the general public. As word got out, that small group of cinephiles turned to hundreds and the Austin Film Society (AFS) was born, honoring classic and independent film with screenings in venues all over Austin.At Cinema Without Borders, we had the opportunity to speak with Chale Nafus, Director of Programming and one of the founders of The Austin Film Society, about the efforts of this organization in introducing world cinema to Austin film fans.Bijan Tehrani: Can you please tell…

Farewell, My Queen marks the return of acclaimed director Benoît Jacquot (A Single Girl, Seventh Heaven, Sade, Deep in the Woods,) and brilliantly captures the passions, debauchery, occasional glimpses of nobility and ultimately the chaos that engulfed the court of Marie Antoinette in the final days before the full-scale outbreak of the Revolution. Based on the best-selling novel by Chantal Thomas, the film stars Léa Seydoux as one of Marie’s ladies-in-waiting, seemingly an innocent but quietly working her way into her mistress’s special favors, until history tosses her fate onto a decidedly different path. With the action moving effortlessly from…

On May 10th 2012, Darryl Macdonald—Director of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Short Film Festival & Film Market, and Executive Director of the Palm Springs Film Society —received the first Cinema Without Borders’ Friend of International Cinema Award. This new prize goes to a person or an organization that helps promote international cinema in the U.S. At the award ceremony, held in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles, Dan Ireland—a filmmaker and a close friend of Darryl Macdonald for many years—introduced Darryl to the audience.Cinema Without Borders recently had the pleasure of speaking…

Sunny Levine is an internationally known music producer who has just released his own, first solo album as a musician, Love Rhino. He is also a film composer and a mixing engineer. Growing up in Santa Monica, Sunny was surrounded by music. Most of the men in his family are musicians. His grandfather is Quincy Jones, his father is producer Stewart Levine (Simply Red, Joe Cocker, BB King, Dr. John, Minnie Riperton, and Jamie Cullum) and his uncle is producer QD3 (Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube). Becoming part of the family business was just the next logical step. After fronting the…

The 2012 Palm Springs International ShortFest & Film Market, was opened yesterday, June 19th. Festival will continue until June 25th and total of 323 films, selected from more than 3,000 worldwide entries will be screened. Now in its 18th year, ShortFest will showcase 50 World Premieres, 63 North American Premieres and 21 U.S. Premieres. The selection of films for screening and competition features star-studded casts and award-winning films from 52 countries around the world. All selections are structured into 53 themed programs, which will screen at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs; with all Festival submissions available in the ShortFest…

The 23rd annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival returns to New York from June 14 to 28 with a program of powerful human stories of oppression, injustice, and resilience from across the globe. To learn more about the 2012 festival we had an interview with Andrea Holley, Deputy Director of the Human Rights Watch film festival. Bijan Tehrani: Can you please tell me how you first got involved with the festival?Andrea Holley: I help select the films for the festival as well as produce the festival in a number of different cities with New York being our flagship festival. BT:…

Unforgivable is the story of Francis (Andre Dussolier, Micmacs, Tell No One) is a successful crime writer who moves to Venice to work on his next novel. When he meets model-turned-real-estate-agent Judith (Carole Bouquet), he is instantly infatuated. Francis and Judith eventually marry and move to a remote house on Torcello Island but Francis’ newfound happiness hinders his writing. Obsessing over what Judith does while at work, he hires a young ex-convict to investigate. As Judith’s sexual past is revealed both men become increasing fixated on the mysterious woman. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Venice, Unforgivable examines the consequences…

Virgin Tales is about evangelical Christians are calling out for a second sexual revolution: chastity! As a counter-movement to the attitudes and practices of today’s culture, today one in eight girls in the US has vowed to remain “unsoiled” until marriage. But the seven children of the Wilson family, founders of the Purity Ball, take this concept of purity of body and mind one step further; even their first kiss will be at the altar. For two years the filmmakers follow the Wilson’s as some of their children prepare for their fairytale vision of romance and marriage and seek out…

Named as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s ’25 New Faces of Independent Film’ and a fellow of IFP’s Emerging Visions symposium, Danielle Lurie is a New York City based writer and director. She graduated Stanford University in 2000 with a BA in Philosophy. Danielle’s short film, In the Morning, premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, and has won nine film festivals. Danielle has co-directed a documentary in Uganda and a feature length documentary following Sheryl Crow’s Global Warming tour. Danielle has written screenplay adaptations of Jamaica Kincaid’s novel, Lucy, to star Zoe Saldana, as well as an excerpt of Nicholas…

As the Diaspora of Greeks throughout the world share the pain and in many ways the immense challenges currently being faced by the courageous people of Greece—and as America continues to wrestle with its own views on immigration—the programming team of the 2012 Los Angeles Greek Film Festival has chosen to open their sixth annual event with a story of experience, strength and hope that challenges people to rise in the face of adversity, and inspires them to find new and different ways to live lives infused with integrity and grace while making the world a better place.Key Sponsors of…