Author: Bijan Tehrani

CrazyTalk 7 from Reallusion is an innovative animation/facial expression/lip syncing program. To learn more about CrazyTalk 7, I interviewed John Martin, VP Product Marketing, Reallusion after Reallusion guys on Siggraph floor should me a demo of Crazy Talk, and called John for me. I have to admit that Crazy Talk was the best of Siggraph 2012 for filmmakers.Bijan Tehrani: Reallusion has been part of the animation world for a long time. A lot of the major companies who provide animation tools have either been bought out by big guys or they have vanished. What is the key to Reallusion’s success?…

From Elvis’s iconic back-up divas, a homeless club hit wonder to an ambitious cabaret singer/rock hopeful and an inspiring producer impresario…THIS TIME follows the resurrecting careers of both musical legends and struggling lifers, in a music industry far removed from the overnight sensations of “American Idol”. The musicians are recording artists The Sweet Inspirations (best known as back-up singers for Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield), New York cabaret sensation Bobby Belfry, soul diva Pat Hodges (Hodges, James & Smith), composer/producer Peitor Angell and featuring gospel star Cissy Houston. An inspiring portrait of faith, talent and determination, wrapped in…

Stephen Fingleton was born in Derry, Northern Ireland. He made his first films with the UCLU Film Society, using the same 16mm cameras Christopher Nolan shot his first movies on. He is the recipient of Northern Ireland Screen’s Bill Miskelly award, and his short films have won several awards and have screened at over sixty international festivals, including the BFI London Film Festival. His feature film THE SURVIVALIST was a finalist in Northern Ireland Screen’s New Talent Focus scheme, and has attracted interest from major players in the industry. He is represented by Independent Talent Group in the UK and…

The Bob Baker Marionette Theater and The Academy of Puppetry & Allied Arts will present “Bob Baker’s Celebration & Preservation Extravaganza,” on Sunday, July 29, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater in Downtown Los Angeles. The event has been created to guarantee a future for The Bob Baker Marionette Theater.This event kicks off the non-profit Academy of Puppetry and Allied Art’s fund-raising campaign to raise $2 million to adopt Bob’s puppet family and help build a future for the marionette theater, with the addition of a museum and school for puppetry arts. Charles Phoenix, a Los…

I make my living as a second-unit for independent music videos and feature films. All I work with is my RED camera, a pro voice-recorder, my HP laptop workstation and my van. I can’t complain about my life, as I love traveling and that is what this job offers me. A decade ago my job was much easier, as film producers and filmmakers did not demand to receive their footage instantly, and they would get back to me about possible re-shoots or extra inserts they needed while leaving me ample time. But now, my cell phone is constantly ringing with…

Andrea La Mendola, a young Italian filmmaker living in Los Angeles, was born in 1984 in Torino. Andrea received his Master Degree in Media and Cinema Engineering at Polytechnic of Torino in 2009 where he won a grant to make a research in the United States about the American Cinema. In United States, Andrea attended UCLA Extension’s film directing course.He co-founded “Indyca”, a film production company based in Torino where he works as producer and director for commercials, feature films, documentaries and short movies together with professionals such as Robert Miano, Franco Nero, Haley Webb, Jack Plotnick, Alessandro Gasman, Giuseppe…

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…