Author: Bijan Tehrani

Tricks tells the story of Stefek, a 6 year old boy who challenges fate. He believes that the chain of events he sets in motion will help him get closer to his father, who abandoned his mother. His sister Elka, 17, helps him learn how to “bribe” fate with small sacrifices. Tricks and coincidences eventually bring the father to the mother’s doorstep, but things go wrong. In despair Stefek tries his good luck with the most risky of his tricks…Andrzej Jakimowski, director of Tricks, began his career by directing short features and documentaries and co-founded the Association of Artists and…

Ishaan Awasthi is an eight-year-old whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate; colours, fish, dogs and kites are just not important in the world of adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks and neatness. Ishaan just cannot seem to get anything right in class. And so, he gets into far more trouble than his parents can handle, and is packed off to a boarding school to ‘be disciplined’. Things are no different at his new school, and Ishaan has to contend with the added trauma of separation from his family. …

Iska Journey follows the toil of a twelve year-old girl living on the streets in a coal mining town in Eastern Europe. The story follows her fight for survival in her small town until the her experience with the Black Sea, where she becomes a victim of human trafficking. Maria Varga plays a role almost identical to her own life and her childish naivety and vitality lend a tragic charm to this story. When Iska is taken to an orphanage and asked if her parents hurt her, she simply responds, ”Well, they do not beat me every day.” Csaba Bollók…

Independent producer and International Film Festival Programmer Helen duToit began her career in Vancouver, Canada in the early nineties, working in the art departments of numerous feature films and as production manager on the first 100% 3D computer animated TV series in the world: the groundbreaking ReBoot! In the mid-90’s Helen relocated to Toronto to serve as Programmer for the Perspective Canada section of the Toronto International Film Festival. During this three year tenure, she also produced six short films, including the Genie Award nominated short film Sshhh….by Scott Smith. In 2000 she left her post at TIFF to produce…

I’ve Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t’aime) is the story of two sisters Léa (Elsa Zylberstein) and Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas). The film begins with Léa, the younger sister by fifteen years, picking Juliette up at the airport. We soon realize that the two sisters are almost complete strangers to each other. Juliette has just been released from prison after serving a long sentence. Léa was still a teenager when Juliette, a doctor, was convicted of the murder of her six-year-old son. Léa contacted Juliette when she was released and suggested that Juliette come to…

Pray the Devil Back to Hell is the gripping account of a group of brave and visionary women who demanded peace for Liberia, a nation torn to shreds by a decades old civil war. The women’s historic, yet unsung achievement finds voice in a narrative that intersperses contemporary interviews, archival images, and scenes of present-day Liberia together to recount the experiences and memories of the women who were instrumental in bringing lasting peace to their country.Gini Reticker (Director) is an Emmy-winning, Academy Award-nominated documentary director and producer. She produced the Academy Award nominated short Asylum and the Emmy nominated A…

A Christmas Tale is story of Junon (Catherine Deneuve) and Abel (Jean-Paul Roussillon) the parents of three grown children: Elizabeth (Anne Consigny), a melancholic playwright with a mathematician husband (Hippolyte Girardot) and a tortured teenage son, Paul (Emile Berling); Henri (Mathieu Amalric), the self-destructive black sheep, banished from family events by Elizabeth five years prior; youngest Ivan (Melvil Poupaud), the peacemaker, is married to the beautiful Sylvia (Chiara Mastroianni) and has two eccentric little boys; while a fourth – Joseph, the eldest – died from leukemia as a boy. When the disease reappears again in the family, all are tested…

In Antarctica, we follow the miserable Omer; he’s about to turn 30 and he hasn’t found love or his true purpose in life. However, he’s not looking very hard. He prefers to lose himself among the stacks of books at the local library and immerse himself in a series of delicious one night stands. He becomes intrigued by Danny, a young dancer, who energizes his libido but not his ambition. He resists the attentions of Ronen, a handsome journalist, who understands him and sparks his imagination. So, who do you choose? Omer is just starting to get a handle on…

John Peccatiello’s career started as a guitar player back in Chicago in the late 80’s early 90’s. After a 3 year break John then moved to California in 1998 to attend audio school at The Los Angeles Recording Workshop. After graduation John was asked to be a teacher. While working at the school, he met current Alice Cooper bass player Chuck Garric. At the time Chuck was the bass player for LA GUNS and the band needed a guitar tech for an upcoming tour. Taking this job allowed John to tour the country for over three years and enabled him…

LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS tells the story of a ruthless philanthropist, a bhangra rapper, an over-protected prodigy, a reckless actress, a lovelorn businessman, an entrepreneurial yogi and a Loin King. All of these characters enter a roller-coaster world of seven strangers whose lives collide during a singing contest in a small New Jersey town.Over three days in a small New Jersey town, five Indian-Americans and one Jewish Indophile participate in the first DESI IDOL, a Bollywood-style singing contest sponsored by a pork industrialist millionaire. These six people are pitted against each other in a singing and dancing extravaganza presided over…