Author: Bijan Tehrani

In 1938 the first Laemmle’s Theaters were opened in Los Angeles by Max Laemmle, and his brother, Kurt. Since then, the Laemmle’s Theater chain has vastly expanded, growing their reach throughout Southern California. Over time, Laemmle’s Theater’s have become the leaders in showcasing art house, independent, and foreign film in the Los Angeles area. There are currently seventeen Laemmle’s locations, and the chain has recently added a five-plex theater in Claremont, and has plans to add a seven-screen complex in the north Hollywood arts district. Throughout their expansion and success, Laemmle’s Theater has remained a family owned business. Greg Laemmle,…

Cliff Robertson is the only actor to have won the Academy Award, Emmy Award, Theatre World Award, as well as the Advertising Age Award. His brilliant performance in Charly earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. That critical success was followed by the Emmy Award for Best TV Actor in the drama The Game, directed by Sydney Pollack. He also starred in, directed and wrote the outstanding rodeo drama J.W. Coop, and directed and starred in The Pilot. Other films include Star 80, Escape from L.A., Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, and the recently released Stephen King’s Riding the…

Sergei Bodrov illuminates the life and legend of Genghis Khan in his stunning historical epic, MONGOL. Based on leading scholarly accounts and written by Bodrov and Arif Aliyev, MONGOL delves into the dramatic and harrowing early years of the ruler who was born as Temudgin in 1162. As it follows Temudgin from his perilous childhood to the battle that sealed his destiny, the film paints a multidimensional portrait of the future conqueror, revealing him not as the evil brute of hoary stereotype, but as an inspiring, fearless and visionary leader. MONGOL shows us the making of an extraordinary man, and…

JUAN and PEDRO meet in the back of a tractor-trailer filled with undocumented Mexican immigrants headed for New York City. Pedro shows Juan a sealed letter that his mother, now dead, has given him – an introduction to the father he never knew. He brags to his new friend that his father, DIEGO – who left Mexico for New York many years before – has become a wealthy restaurant owner and will surely rejoice at the arrival of the son he had always wanted. Juan doubts Pedro’s confidence and challenges his expectations. Juan’s father left him when he was four…

When Jean-Luc Godard wed the ideals of filmmaking to the realities of autobiography and current events, he changed the nature of cinema. Unlike any earlier films, Godard’s work shifts fluidly from fiction to documentary, from criticism to art. The man himself also projects shifting images—cultural hero, fierce loner, shrewd businessman. Hailed by filmmakers as a—if not the—key influence on cinema, Godard has entered the modern canon, a figure as mysterious as he is indispensable.In Everything Is Cinema, critic Richard Brody has amassed hundreds of interviews to demystify the elusive director and his work. Paying as much attention to Godard’s technical…

Audrey Dana is an up-and-coming French-American actress who has nurtured and diversified her talent in the realms of theater, television, and film. As a student at the prestigious Conservatoire National d’Orléans, she won the award for First Prize of Dramatic Arts. Throughout the years, Dana built up her career through numerous appearances on French television programs and performances in over fifteen plays. In 2006, she jump-started her path into film by starring in Bernard Werber’s Nos Amis Les Terriens (Our Earthmen Friends), a faux-documentary about humans from the perspective of an extra-terrestrial race. The film opened the thirtieth Montreal World…

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…