Author: Bijan Tehrani

In the opening scenes of The Edge of Heaven, retired widower Ali sees a solution to loneliness when he meets prostitute Yeter. Ali proposes to the fellow Turkish native to live with him in exchange for a monthly stipend. Ali’s bookish son Nejat seems disapproving about his bully father’s choice. But the young German professor quickly grows fond of kind Yeter, especially upon discovering most of her hard-earned money is sent home to Turkey for her daughter’s university studies. The accidental death of Yeter distances father and son even more, emotionally and physically. Nejat travels to Istanbul to begin an…

Fugitive Pieces tells the story of Jakob Beer, a man whose life is transformed by his childhood experiences during WWII. The film is based on the beloved and best-selling novel by Canadian poet Anne Michaels.Jakob’s story (Robbie Kay) begins in Poland in 1942, when he is nine years old. Nazi soldiers have murdered his parents and abducted his teenage sister, Bella. Traumatized by this horrific event, Jakob sneaks out of his hiding place and struggles to survive. He is found by Athos Roussos (Rade Sherbedgia), a Greek archaeologist working at a Polish dig site in Biskupin. Moved by the child’s…

The Polish American Film Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting a higher level of understanding of Polish culture through film. This organization showcases outstanding achievements of Polish cinema right in the heart of Hollywood. Each year, the Polish Film Festival of Los Angeles screens the finest selection of contemporary Polish cinema including full-length features, documentaries, animations, and shorts. The Polish Film Festival provides an exciting venue for Polish filmmakers and actors to share their talents with an American audience. In an interview with Cinema Without Borders, Vladek Juszkiewicz, Director of the Polish Film Festival of Los Angeles talked…

Hats Off, a feature-length documentary, profiles the beauty and eccentricities of an extraordinary woman, 93-year-old actress Mimi Weddell.With the style and grace of Katharine Hepburn, the smoky wit and wisdom of Dorothy Parker and her own personal philosophy “rise above it,” Mimi is truly an iconic American original, rising above the mundane and difficult confines of her own daily life, to reach for the stars and fulfill her dreams.Hats Off captures the essence of this unique woman whose full-time acting career began at age 65, and whose daily routine mocks the traditional image of old age. From her 14-hour days…

After completing a Master’s degree in politics in Paris, François Truffart was Cultural Attaché in charge of cinema promotion at the French Embassy in Hungary, Japan, and the United States (Los Angeles) successively, from 1991 to 2001. In 2002, he was Director of the Cinéfondation at the Cannes Film Festival and then represented Le Marché du Film of the Cannes Film Festival in the US. He has been in charge of programming for COLCOA since 2004 before being assigned as Director and Programmer in 2007. He is a consultant for film finance and acquisitions for the Japanese market, through his…

My Brother is an Only Child is set in a small Italian town in the 60’s and 70’s; the film tells the story of two brothers who want to change the world – but in completely different ways. The elder, Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio), is a handsome, charismatic firebrand who becomes the prime mover in the local Communist Party.Accio (Elio Germano), the younger, more rebellious brother, finds his own contrarian voice by joining the reactionary Fascists. What starts as a typical tale of sibling rivalry becomes the story of the polarizing and paralyzing politics of those turbulent times and the rift…

Throughout the 1950’s and 60’s, William Castle produced and directed a series of horror films featuring some nifty audience-participation gimmicks. Castle treated moviegoers to buzzing seats, flying skeletons, luminescent ghosts and mock life insurance policies, and they loved every minute of it. In the documentary Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story, audiences are served up a different kind of treat: a rags-to-riches tale about one of the last great American showmen, a master of self-promotion and exploitation who, privately, was plagued by a fear of failure and a desperate desire to be respected among his peers. Castle’s first breakout film…

Bam 6.6 is the story of the human condition. The film weaves together stories of survival, loss, and healing, as we explore the humanity of the Iranian people through the prism of the devastating 2003 earthquake that struck at the heart of Bam, an ancient Iranian village.Bam 6.6 subjects come from different walks of life – A Jewish-American woman, an American businessman, and the Iranian residents of Bam. Through their experiences, viewers will witness how a natural disaster can overcome religious and political barriers, dispel stereotypes, and unite disparate members of the human family.Jahangir Golestan-Parast, producer/director of Bam 6.6, was…

Roger Durling has been at the helm of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for the past five years. He was born and raised in Panama and has a graduate degree from Columbia University. He has been teaching Film Studies at Santa Barbara City College for the past three years. He writes a column about film entitled Roger Durling¹s THE BIG PICTURE in Santa Barbara¹s weekly paper the Independent and serves on the Board of Directors of Santa Barbara’s Downtown Organization. In 2004, he was recognized as Santa Barbara¹s Citizen of the Year.Bijan Tehrani: Congratulations on a wonderful 2008 festival.…

BIG RIG is a broad portrait of modern America as seen through the eyes of long-haul truck drivers. Spanning 21,000 miles, 45 states, and dozens of truck stops, director Doug Pray and producer Brad Blondheim (the team who created SCRATCH) went far beyond just stereotypical chrome and coffee culture and made a film that delves deeply into the lives and personal struggles of these working-class heroes, who are, literally, carrying the nation upon their backs. From New York City’s Hunt’s Point Market, where semis arrive at 3am to deliver produce to feed the entire Northeast, to California’s San Joaquin Valley,…