Author: Bijan Tehrani

The Princess Of Montpensier takes place in France in 1562. Against the background of the savage Catholic/Protestant wars, Marie de Mézières (Mélanie Thierry), a beautiful young aristocrat, and the lively Henri de Guise (Gaspard Ulliel) fall in love, but Marie’s father has promised her hand in marriage to the Prince of Montpensier (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet). When he is called away to battle, her husband leaves her in the care of Count Chabannes (Lambert Wilson), an aging nobleman with a disdain for warfare. As he experiences his own forbidden desire for Marie, Chabannes must also protect her from the dangerously corrupt court…

Black Death happens in 1348, When Europe has fallen under the shadow of the Black Death. As the plague decimates all in its path, fear and superstition are rife. In this apocalyptic environment, the church is losing its grip on the people. There are rumors of a village, hidden in marshland that the plague cannot reach. There is even talk of a necromancer who leads the village and is able to bring the dead back to life. Ulric (Sean Bean), a fearsome knight, is charged by the church to investigate these rumors. He enlists the guidance of a novice monk,…

The Human Resources Manager of Jerusalem’s largest bakery is in trouble. He is separated from his wife, distanced from his daughter and stuck in a job he hates. When one of his employees, a foreign worker, is killed in a suicide bombing, the bakery is accused of indifference, and the HR Manager is sent to the victim’s hometown in Romania to make amends. Far from home, on a mission to honor a woman he didn’t even know but has somehow grown to admire, the HR Manager rediscovers his own humanity and his ability to truly care for human resources.Eran Riklis,…

The Desert of Forbiden Art, tells the incredible story of how a treasure trove of banned Soviet art worth millions of dollars is stashed in a far-off desert of Uzbekistan develops into a larger exploration of how art survives in times of oppression.During the Soviet regime, a small group of artists remain true to their vision despite threats of torture, imprisonment and death. Their plight inspires a frustrated young painter Igor Savitsky. Pretending to buy State-approved art, Savitsky instead daringly rescues 40,000 forbidden fellow artist’s works and creates a museum in the desert of Uzbekistan, far from the watchful eyes…

In Brotherhood, Adam Buckley finds himself having to rob a convenience store on the last night of pledging a college fraternity. But when the initiation ritual goes horribly wrong, and every subsequent move proves disastrous, Adam must take a stand to save a friend’s life. Will Cannon, director of Brotherhood is an honors graduate of New York University’s film program. While at NYU, he wrote and directed the award winning short film ROSLYN, which has aired on Showtime, The Sundance Channel, and HBO International. ROSLYN was selected as a semifinalist in Chrysler’s Million Dollar Film Festival where Will traveled to…

Winter in Wartime happens in Nazi-occupied Holland, 1945. In a snow-covered village, thirteen-year-old MICHIEL (Martijn Lakemeier) is drawn into the Resistance when he aids a wounded British paratrooper. Michiel‘s boyish sense of defiance and adventure soon turns to danger and desperation, as Michiel is forced to act without knowing whom to trust among the adults and townspeople around him. Wartime‘s harsh reality encroaches on childhood innocence as Michiel confronts good and evil, courage and duplicity, and his own burden of responsibility.Cinema Without Borders interviewed Martin Koolhoven director of Winter in Wartime last week. Bijan Tehrani: My first question is when…

To learn more about HP Workstations and what they offer to film editors, we had an interview with Travis Humphries is a product marketing manager for the HP Workstations Global Business Unit in Fort Collins, CO. Travis is responsible for the feature definition and lifecycle management of HP Performance Workstations; the current generation of this product is the HP Z400 Workstation. Having developed a proclivity for computer technology while working part-time repairing servers and PCs during his undergraduate years, Travis was always attracted to the reputation and global presence of Hewlett-Packard. Putting this into practice, he secured a position with…

In a Better World, a 2011 OSCAR nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film Award, is story of Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) a doctor who commutes between his home in an idyllic town in Denmark and his work at an African refugee camp. In these two very different worlds, he and his family are faced with conflicts that lead them to difficult choices between revenge and forgiveness. Anton and his wife Marianne (Trine Dyrholm), who have two young sons, are separated and struggling with the possibility of divorce. Their older, twelve-year-old son Elias (Markus Rygaard) is being bullied at school, until…

Immigration Tango is the story of Elena, a Russian immigrant studying in Miami and Carlos her Columbian boyfriend realizing that they are running out of legal options for staying in the U.S. Then the couple switches partners with Betty and Mike, an American couple who are also their best friends. All is well until the stress of keeping up appearances to their family members and a savvy immigration enforcement agent eventually begins to take its toll. Here is our interview with David Burton Morris, director of the Immigration Tango.Bijan Tehrani: How did you first come up with the idea of…

God of Love, winner of the Academy Awards’ Best Live Action Short Film, is the story of a lounge-singing darts champion Raymond (Luke Matheny) who finds his prayers are answered – literally – when he receives a mysterious package of passion-inducing darts. The catch is that the one woman he loves – Kelly (Marian Brock), a drummer in his band – is already in love with Ray’s best friend Fozzie (Christopher Hirsh), the guitarist in the band. Romance is in the air in this bohemian charmer.Here is CWB’s interview with writer and director of God of Love, Luke Matheny.Bijan Tehrani:…