Author: Bijan Tehrani

Abner Meecham, an aging Tennessee farmer discarded to a nursing facility by his lawyer son, flees the old folks’ home and catches a ride back to his country farm to live out his days in peace. Upon his return, he discovers that his son has leased the farm to Abner’s old enemy and his white trash family. Not one to suffer fools or go down easy, Abner moves into the old tenant shack on the property and declares that he won’t leave until the farm is returned to his possession. But Lonzo Choat, the new tenant, has no intention to…

In every corner of the world, there’s one question that can never be definitively answered, yet stirs up equal parts passion, curiosity, self-reflection and often wild imagination: “What is God?” Filmmaker Peter Rodger explores this profound, age-old query in the provocative non-fiction feature “Oh My God?”This visual odyssey travels the globe with a revealing lens examining the idea of God through the minds and eyes of various religions and cultures, everyday people, spiritual leaders and celebrities. His goal: to give the viewer the personal, visceral experience of some kind of reasonable, meaningful definition of one of the most used–some might…

Growing up in Dayton, Ohio Curtiss I Cook wanted to do and did one thing: Act. His first brush with the stage was at the age of 10, in an elementary school production of A Raisin in the sun. This experience led to countless high school plays, a career at the famed Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and a full scholarship to Mount View Theatre School in London, where he truly honed his craft.Curtiss’ resume boasts three Broadway shows, countless national tours, spots on Law & Order, the Sopranos, Rescue Me and numerous commercials. In a PSA for TVBoss.org, an unforgettable…

Stephane Herry, CEO of GigaTribe, enjoys working in various environments in different professions. He started working as an IT consultant helping big companies organize their business software architecture. He then joined the video game industry as a project manager for one of the first multiplayer online games. Working for Totem Entertainment, an online software editor, he worked in different jobs, from organizing manager to executive director. In 2005, he co-founded GigaTribe with Alexis Leseigneur, a very talented technical director. GigaTribe is a software community used by more than 1 million people to share files privately over the Internet.Bijan Tehrani: How…

The documentary film NoBody’s Perfect follows Niko von Glasow as he looks for eleven people who are prepared to pose naked for a book of photos. They all are born disabled – like he is – due to the disastrous side-effects of Thalidomide. With a darkly humorous touch, and no deference to political correctness, NoBody’s Perfect explores the specific problems which these twelve extraordinary people have faced during childhood, adolescence and adulthood, and shows them reacting with curiosity, enthusiasm or horror towards the project. As the film approaches the photo shoot, von Glasow completes the picture with scenes showing his…

In 1974, a hot headed 19-year-old named Michael Peterson (Tom Hardy, in a blazing, transformative performance) decided he wanted to make a name for himself and so, with a homemade sawed-off shotgun and a head full of dreams he attempted to rob a post office. After making off with only 26.18 (British Pounds), he was swiftly apprehended and originally sentenced to seven years in jail, Peterson has subsequently been behind bars for 34 years, 30 of which have been spent in solitary confinement. During that time, Michael Petersen, the boy, faded away and ‘Charles Bronson,’ his superstar alter ego, took…

Three years in the making, this cinéma-vérité feature from Joe Berlinger is the epic story of one of the largest and most controversial environmental lawsuits on the planet. The inside story of the infamous “Amazon Chernobyl” case, Crude is a real-life high stakes legal drama, set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures. Presenting a complex situation from multiple viewpoints, the film subverts the conventions of advocacy filmmaking, exploring a complicated situation from all angles while bringing an important story of environmental peril and…

Each year over eight million families around the world suffer the loss of a child. In Jennifer Steinman’s moving and inspiring documentary film, Motherland, a 17-day trip to South Africa transforms the lives of six grieving women from across the US. Unexpectedly and eight thousand miles from home, each finds comfort and healing in a landscape that appears, at first, to offer little more than melancholy.Prior to their journey, the six intrepid women featured in the film have each suffered the death of a child but otherwise have little in common. And although the anticipation of a long, emotional journey…

Iranian Film Festival (IFF) is an annual event showcasing the independent feature and short films made by or about the Iranians from around the world. IFF is also a platform for the Iranian filmmakers living around the globe to express their vision and talent through the artistic medium of film. Iranian Film Festival (IFF) was established to celebrate the Iranian film and culture in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Here is an interview with Saeed Shafa director of the festival.Bijan Tehrani: Please tell us a little bit about the Iranian Film Festival in San Francisco; when it was…

Five Minutes to Heaven happens in Lurgan, Northern Ireland. In 1975 a low level civil war has been underway, with the IRA targeting British loyalists and the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force exacting revenge on Catholics they claim are militant republicans. Alistair Little, 16 is the leader of a UVF cell, eager to be blooded. He and his gang are given the go ahead to kill a young Catholic man, James Griffin, as a reprisal and a warning to others. When the hit is carried out, Joe Griffin – the 11-year old little brother of the target – watches in horror…