Author: Bijan Tehrani

VW Scheich is writer/director of Wallenda, a short period drama about Karl Wallenda’s first high wire performance years before he became the patriarch of The Flying Wallendas, the famous troupe known for its death-defying feats. Wallenda was a unique project in that it was shot entirely against a green screen and contained over 250 CG shots. During post-production VW oversaw a crew of up to 300 CG artists to successfully produce the creation and integration of all the CG elements. VW’s production company, Rareform Pictures, is currently developing its own slate of original feature film projects, one of which is…

In Sound Of Noise a Swedish film, Police officer Amadeus Warnebring has been born into a musical family with a long history of famous musicians. Ironically, he hates music. His life is thrown into chaos when a band of crazy musicians decides to perform a musical apocalypse using the city as their orchestra… Reluctantly, Warnebring embarks on his first musical investigation… Johannes Stjärne Nilsson and Ola Simonsson directors of Sound Of Noise were both born in Lund, Sweden in 1969 and have known each other since the age of 7, when they performed together in a school play. Since completing…

Sunday, February 19th set-off the start of the Los Angeles-Italia Film, Fashion, and Art Fest—a week-long affair where some of the best contemporary art from all of Italy was on display at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Filmmakers and fans alike gathered for a celebration of Italian culture, art, history, and cinema. We sat down with film director Fausto Brizzi, whose film Love to Make Love made its stateside premiere at the festival, and asked about his film and his experience at the event. Bijan Tehrani: Please introduce yourself and tell us about your film? Fausto Brizzi: My name is…

Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the Berlin Film Festival, the powerful and richly textured second feature from Joshua Marston (Maria Full of Grace) focuses on an Albanian family caught up in a blood feud. Nik (Tristan Halilaj) is a carefree teenager in a small town with a crush on the school beauty and ambitions to start his own internet café. His world is suddenly up-ended when his father and uncle become entangled in a land dispute that leaves a fellow villager murdered. According to a centuries-old code of law, this entitles the dead man’s family to…

FOOTNOTE, directed by Joseph Cedar, is the tale of a great rivalry between a father and son. Eliezer and Uriel Shkolnik are both eccentric professors who have dedicated their lives to their work in Talmudic Studies. The father, Eliezer, is a stubborn purist who fears the establishment and has never been recognized for his work. Meanwhile his son, Uriel, is an up-and-coming star in the field who appears to feed on accolades, endlessly seeking recognition. Then one day, the tables turn. When Eliezer learns that he is to be awarded the Israel Prize, the most valuable honor for scholarship in the…

Oscar-winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque) and Spain’s most successful designer Javier Mariscal’s new animated film Chico & Rita is nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar.Trueba and Mariscal, close collaborators and friends for many years, celebrate their passion for the music and culture of Cuba with an epic animated story of love and heartbreak, set against the colour and bustle of Havana, New York, Las Vegas, Hollywood and Paris in the late 1940s and early ’50s.Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams.Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites…

MONSIEUR LAZHAR, directed by Philippe Falardeau, is a Canadian film nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Award at the 2012 Oscars.In Montreal, an elementary school teacher dies abruptly. Having learned of the incident in the newspaper, Bachir Lazhar (Fellag), a 55-year-old Algerian immigrant, goes to the school to offer his services as a substitute teacher. Quickly hired to replace the deceased, he finds himself in an establishment in crisis, all while going through his own personal tragedy.The cultural gap between Bachir and his class is made immediately apparent when he gives them a dictation exercise that is beyond their…

Recent film school grad, Hallvar Witzo, got off an 18 hour flight and arrived at the Academy Awards Nominee Luncheon to find himself sitting next to his idols, Martin Scorsese and Steven Speilberg. Hallvar candidly expressed, “This is a big deal for a kid from Norway! It is just surreal.” Not bad for a 27 year old. The theatre was a bit far from the village he grew up in as a child, where he would have to take boat to see a film! His father was a projectionist which sparked his love for film—a Cinema Paradiso story of sorts. …

Michael R. Roskam’s BULLHEAD is a harrowing tale of revenge, redemption and fate. Domineering cattle farmer Jacky Vanmarsenille (Mattias Schoenaerts in a ferocious breakout performance), constantly pumped on steroids and hormones, initiates a shady deal with a notorious mafioso meat trader. When an investigating federal agent is assassinated and a woman from his traumatic past resurfaces, Jacky must confront his demons and face the far-reaching consequences of his decisions.Bullhead is nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.Bijan Tehrani: Bullhead has the structure of a Greek tragedy, was this intentional?Michael R. Roskam: I always describe it more as a tragedy…

Wild Life happens in Alberta in 1909 in the wide open prairies of the Wild West. Enter a well-tailored young Englishman, fresh from the old country. He’s been sent to try his hand at ranching but his affection for badminton, bird watching and liquor leaves him little time for wrangling cattle. As the golden prairie summer turns to fall, it becomes clear that nothing in his refined upbringing has prepared him for the harsh conditions of the New World.Borrowing playfully from the western, nature documentaries and eyewitness reportage, this short animated film offers a fresh, wry take on the Canadian…