Author: Bijan Tehrani

Palm Springs International ShortFest Short Film Festival is one of the most amazing film events on our planet, where you witness the future of cinema and the birth of new, great filmmakers. Palm Springs International ShortFest Market also opens new horizons for filmmakers, who are given opportunities to create more movies. Now in its 17th year, the Palm Springs International ShortFest has become known world-wide for the extraordinary community of filmmakers it attracts, and for the quality and scope of its programming. To learn more about 2011 Palm Springs International ShortFest Short Film Festival and Market, we had an interview…

Viva Riva! Is the story of Riva, a small time operator who has just returned to his hometown of Kinshasa, Congo after a decade away with a major score: a fortune in hijacked gasoline. Wads of cash in hand and out for a good time, Riva is soon entranced by beautiful nightclub denizen Nora (gorgeous Paris-based actress Manie Malone in her screen debut), the kept woman of a local gangster. Into the mix comes an Angolan crime lord Cesar (New York-based African Academy Award winner Hoji Fortuna) relentlessly seeking the return of his stolen shipment of gasoline. Director Djo Tunda…

The Los Angeles Greek Film Festival showcases new films from Greek filmmakers worldwide. Their foremost goal is to promote Greek Cinema and cultural exchange while bridging the gap between Greek filmmakers and Hollywood. Orpheus Awards are given to the most outstanding new films in the dramatic, documentary and short film categories.To provide our readers with more information about 2011 Los Angeles Greek Film Festival we spoke to Angeliki Giannakopoulos, who co-founded the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival with Ersi Danou.Bijan Tehrani: What’s new at this year’s Los Angeles Greek Film Festival?Angeliki Giannakopoulos: Well this year is our fifth year, and…

In Suddenly, when a tragic car accident claims the lives of a mother and her youngest son, the father, Lasse (Michael Nyqvist) and older brother Johan (Anastasios Soulis) are left to fight their grief alone. Lasse, in the grips of a suicidal depression, is urged to take Johan to their summerhouse on an island off Stockholm, where the two continue to avoid even mentioning their lost loved ones. Neighbors and grandparents are supportive in sometimes disruptive and sometimes intimate ways, and Johan gets genuine, loving care from a local young woman, Helena (Moa Gammel). It’s up to them to put…

The Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival and Market was created to bridge the gap between Hollywood, the world film community and the Brazilian Film Industry. Financiers from both Hollywood and Latin America will meet for daily seminars designed to highlight bilateral business opportunities and new film financing opportunities for both Hollywood and the Latin American film community. HBFF is the first Hollywood-based film festival dedicated to addressing the cultural-creative and commercial exchange between Hollywood, the international film industry and the Brazilian Film Community.To learn more about the Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival we had an interview with Talize Sayegh, Executive Producer/Founder of…

How to Die In Oregon is an extraordinarily powerful, compassionate and intimate exploration of Oregan’s historic and controversial Death with Dignity Act, which legalizes physician aid-in- dying for some terminally ill patients. Since Oregon became the first state in the nation to pass such a law in 1994, more than 500 Oregonians have taken advantage of it. Sagner was the 343rd, and he is one of a half-dozen terminally ill people whom filmmaker Peter Richardson (“Clear Cut: The Story Of Philomath, Oregon”) follows as they struggle with whether, and when to end their lives by lethal overdose.Bijan Tehrani: How did…

The First Grader begins in a remote mountain top primary school in the Kenyan bush, hundreds of children are jostling for a chance for the free education newly promised by the Kenyan government. One new applicant causes astonishment when he knocks on the door of the school. He is Maruge, an old Mau Mau veteran in his eighties, who is desperate to learn to read at this late stage of his life. He fought for the liberation of his country and now feels he must have the chance of an education so long denied—even if it means sitting in a…

Over the past two decades, Belgian cinema, either from Flanders or from the French speaking part of the country, has risen to prominence in the international filmmaking arena, boasting richly diverse films that consistently garner critical praise and worldwide anticipation. Last year, the Consulate General of Belgium in Los Angeles launched a monthly Belgian Film Series in partnership with the American Cinemathèque as a celebration of Belgium’s Presidency of the European Union in the second half on 2010. Thanks to the great success of the series, ‘Grit and Whimsy’ has returned on a permanent basis. Each third Wednesday of the…

Love During Wartime is the real, modern-day tale of Romeo and Juliet. Two fated lovers fighting against the world with their only weapon: Love. In the middle of the smoke and debris, from the most well-known running conflict in the world is Osama, a Palestinian Muslim artist. Jasmin is an Israeli Jew who is a dancer and a daughter of a German Jewish immigrant. Israeli bureaucracy filled with suspicion and a menacing Palestinian society make their life a nightmare. All they want to do is create a new life together removed from politics, religion and history. But, of course, this…

Cookie is a short film directed by Enuka Okuma. The film tells the story of a beautiful young woman named Cookie who is told “not to bother” showing up at work; she retreats into the safety of home with her charming, mischievous, and jobless husband, Johnny. Cookie and Johnny venture deep into a fun and infantile world of their own, completely void of responsibility. When a meeting of Cookie’s book club is held at their house, the couple’s existence is challenged by the attention Cookie receives from handsome newcomer Patrick, and by the concern Cookie’s best-friend Rachel has regarding Cookie’s…