Author: Bijan Tehrani

Last week we had the opportunity to interview Annette Rupp, director of the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles about the German Currents screenings.Annette Rupp was born in Hessen. She studied German Literature and Philosophy in Muenster and Berlin, followed by additional studies of cultural management. At the same time, she became an accomplished musician on the organ and trumpet. Her professional career took her to the University of the Arts in Berlin, where she taught project management. From 1998 to 2005, she produced 30 Documentaries and directed audiobooks for Ventana Film- und TV Produktionsfirma. From 2005 to 2009 she worked at the…

The Los Angeles Irish Film Festival is a non-competitive film festival about celebrating the Irish love for story-telling and their deep rooted love for the tellers of tales. The 2010 edition runs Thursday, September 30 through Sunday, October 3, 2010. The 2010 Los Angeles Irish Film Festival is co-presented by The American Cinematheque. The Irish Film Board and Culture Ireland are partners of LAIFF. ELMA (European Languages and Movies in America) is a founding sponsor. The Irish Film Institute is a premier sponsor.CWB editor, Bijan Tehrani had the opportunity of interviewing Lisa Mclaughlin about 2010 festival.Bijan Tehrani: Please tell us…

Heartbreaker is the story of charming, funny and effortlessly cool, Alex (Duris), a professional heartbreaker who for a fee can turn any husband, fiancé or boyfriend into an ex. Alex has one ironclad rule: He only breaks up couples where the woman is unhappy. His latest job will put that rule to the test. The target is Juliette, a beautiful heiress who is set to marry the man of her dreams. With ten days until the wedding, Alex has been hired by her father to carry out his most daring seduction yet that risks him being caught by his ruthless…

Fausta suffers from “the milk of sorrow”, an illness transmitted through mother’s milk by women who have been violated or mistreated during the war of terrorism in Peru. The war has ended, but Fausta’s life is a reminder of it because “the illness of fear” stole her soul. Now, her mother’s sudden death forces her to confront her fears and the secret that is hidden inside of her: she has inserted a potato into her vagina to serve as a protective shield that repels disgusting intruders. THE MILK OF SORROW is the story of a search for re-awakening, a journey…

Soul Kitchen is the story of a young restaurant owner Zinos is down on his luck. His girlfriend Nadine has moved to Shanghai, his Soul Kitchen customers are boycotting the new gourmet chef, and he‘s having back trouble! Things start looking up when the hip crowd embraces his revamped culinary concept, but that doesn’t mend Zinos’ broken heart. He decides to fly to China for Nadine, leaving the restaurant in the hands of his unreliable ex-con brother Illias. Both decisions turn out disastrous: Illias gambles away the restaurant to a shady real estate agent and Nadine has found a new…

The 6th international online-dancefestival SideBySide-net starts on August 27th with live performances and video-art at Theaterkantine Düsseldorf. After that, the participating artists of different styles and (dance) cultures will enter the virtual stage: the website www.side-by-side.netIn the international dance scene “SideBySide.net“ has become quite well known: As every year, numerous artists from all over the world have applied to take part. “The variety and quality of applications has convinced me as well as the choice of artists we finally nominated for the festival”, says juror Peter Schmehl, who has worked as executive director of the arts foundation North Rhine-Westphalia and…

Olympus Visionary Larry C. Price is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, talked to Cinema Without Borders about using Olympus E-PL1 for shooting his documentaries. Larry is a long-time photojournalist and a photo editor at some of North America’s largest newspapers including the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Baltimore Sun, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Denver Post. Price’s much-celebrated work has appeared in National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, LIFE and other national and international magazines and newspapers. Larry’s past corporate clients include IBM and HarperCollins. Additionally, Price’s work has been honored by the Overseas Press Club, World Press…

Since early July, we have been extensively testing the HTC EVO 4G for Sprint to check its performance as a media phone for film fans and filmmakers. We have been amazed by the power and capabilities of the HTC EVO and we decided to speak to Trevor Van Norman, a Sprint Senior Product Marketing Manager to get more information about this phone for you. (CWB review of HTC EVO will be posted soon)Trevor Van Norman has been at Sprint for 12 years and has held various roles in Product and Marketing. For the last 5 years, he has been responsible…

The Production Sessions at Siggraph’s 2010 Computer Animation Festival are always enlightening, entertaining and extremely educational. Besides panel discussions on the making of some of last season’s block busters like AVATAR, IRON MAN 2, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON and THE LAST AIRBENDER, this year’s Siggraph also offered an inspiring session with Teddy Newton, director of Pixar’s latest short DAY & NIGHT. In addition, an exclusive 8 minute sneak peak of TRON: LEGACY was showcased, followed by a discussion with director Joseph Kosinski, Producer Jeffrey Silver, Visual Effects Supervisor Eric Barba and Animation Supervisor Steve Preeg. To…

For five days at the end of July, LA’s downtown Convention Center was entirely dedicated to pixels, those tiny technological wonders that enable us to enjoy movies, games, arts and entertainment. The people who create and manipulate those pixels were in high attendance at this year’s Siggraph 2010 Conference.This year, the annual conference, exhibition and festival of computer graphics and interactive techniques was titled THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE PIXEL. However, a second subheading could have been THE PEOPLE BEHIND AVATAR – as there were a number of lectures, discussions, and presentations about James Cameron’s latest and highest grossing media spectacle.…