Author: Bijan Tehrani

Bernd Desinger was born in 1962 in Oberhausen, Germany. He studied German language and literature, History, Psychology and Film. Bernd Desinger joined the Goethe-Institut in 1990. After postings in Germany and Athens, Greece, he became deputy director of the Goethe-Institut Toronto. In 2000 he was transferred to Germany, where he became director of the Bonn branch of the central office, serving in a parallel capacity as head of the Department of Audiovisual Media. In this position he was responsible for the acquisition and co-production of documentary films. In addition, he produced an internationally distributed program series on German art and…

Filmmaker, college professor, wife and mother, Yael Katzir was born in Tel Aviv in 1942. Studied at Hebrew University, Jerusalem and at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA received her Doctoral Degree in History. She completed a Masters at Boston University MFA in Broadcasting and Film.(Cum Laude) Director of Beit Berl College: Communal Cable Television Center Broadcasting regularly on Israel Cable TV Channel 98, country wide.Prof. of film and history at the Art School. Independent Documentary filmmaker director and producer; she is also a published author.Her Award winning films are: Company Jasmine, Shivah for My Mother, A place for everyone. A glimpse…

Maria Repole supervises all brand marketing and product campaigns supported by print and online advertising, Public Relations, sponsorships, literature, events and trade shows, company web sites and e-commerce initiatives, market research, environmental efforts and corporate social responsibility programs.In addition to managing Toshiba’s communications team, Repole also collaborates with Tokyo headquarters to maintain a consistent worldwide message and brand image. Her involvement in communications in the consumer electronics industry extends beyond Toshiba; she serves as chair on the Consumer Electronics Association’s communications committee, participates on the Communications Committee with the Hollywood Digital Entertainment Group and is a member of the National…

Travis White serves as Senior Product Manager for the Home Editing line of products within Pinnacle Systems. Marketed throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Pinnacle products are the most widely recognized and successful home video editing software programs available today.As a product manager in the consumer video and multimedia software space for over 8 years, White has launched over 50 successful software and hardware products into world-wide markets. During his career, White has gained extensive experience in all aspects of product management and marketing for a variety of multimedia software solutions spanning from consumer home imaging and…

Darryl Macdonald is the Director of the Palm Springs International Film Festival and the Palm Springs International ShortFest and Short Film Market. He is the co-founder of The Seattle International Film Festival, and was its Executive and Artistic Director from 1975 until October of 2003. He served as the first Artistic Director of the Palm Springs Film Festival (1989 -1993) and the Hamptons Film Festival (1993 -1996) and was the Programming Director of the Vancouver International Film Festival (1988 -1992), which he helped found in 1980. He has also served as the Director of the Goodwill Games Film Festival, the…

The last two presidential elections both came down to a relatively small number of votes, and in both elections the integrity of the voting process has been called into question. With the upcoming election looking to be similarlyclose, the time has come to ask the questions: what happened in 2000 and 2004; what has changed since; and what can be done to ensure a fair and honest tabulation of votes in 2008?STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote brings together behind-the-scenes perspectives from the U.S. presidential election of 2004 – plus startling stories from key races in 1996, 2000, 2002 and 2006.…

While the Duplass Brothers were shooting their last feature film The Puffy Chair, a crew member raised the question “what’s the scariest thing you can think of?” Someone immediately said “a guy with a bag on his head staring into your window.” Some agreed, but some thought it was downright ridiculous and, if anything, funny (but definitely not scary). Thus, BAGHEAD was born, an attempt to take the absurdly low-concept idea of a “guy with a bag on his head” and make a funny, truthful, endearing film that, maybe, just maybe, was a little bit scary, too.MARK AND JAY DUPLASS…

Eight Miles High tells the incredible true story of European wild-child Uschi Obermaier. The film tracks her restless life from a small town girl in rural Bavaria to a fast-living fashion icon in Munich; from free-loving companion of the Rolling Stones to ultimately becoming the embodiment of the 60’s generation of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll. This is one woman’s story about the discovery of freedom and the price one must ultimately pay to achieve it.Munich-born Uschi Obermaier celebrated her 60th birthday in September of 2006. She supported the film project of Eight Miles High, authorized the script, consulted with lead…

Sara Pollack is the Manager of Film & Animation at YouTube. She is responsible for building and managing the Film community on the site by highlighting exceptional content identified by the YouTube community, developing programs to foster the creation of quality content, and using community feedback to enhance YouTube’s features for both amateur and professional filmmakers. Sara is working to ensure that YouTube remains an integral part of the changing landscape of independent film distribution by helping filmmakers reach and engage with their audiences directly.Prior to joining YouTube, Sara was a Production Executive at Big Beach, an independent film production…

Catherine Breillat is a Paris based filmmaker and writer who became famous for her distinctively personal films on sexuality, gender trouble and sibling rivalry. Accused of being a ‘porno auteuriste’, Breillat allowed for an unbiased view of sexuality and extended the language of mainstream movies. She is also a best-selling novelist and wrote her first novel, L’Homme Facile, at the age of 17. Breillat acted in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris (1982) and wrote the screenplay for Maurice Pialat’s movie Police (1984). Since her first film Une vraie jeune filles (1975, not released before 2000), Breillat explored critically as…