Burbank, CA – June 4th, 2018: Today, Cinema Without Borders announced jury members  for GoE Bridging The Borders Award at  the 2019 Palm Springs International ShortFest Film Festival and Market.

The Bridging The Borders Award at the 2019 Palm ShortFest will be given to the most successful film in bringing the people of our world closer together. GoE Bridging The Borders Award  is presented by Cinema Borders and award sponsored and prize provided by GoEnergistics. The winner of Bridging the Borders Award will receive a cash prize of $2500.

Palm Springs ShortFest award ceremony will be held on June 23th at Palm Springs’ Riviera Hotel.

Cinema Without Borders’ jury members to decide the 2019 winner of the GoE Bridging The Borders Award are:

Keely Badger
Keely Badger is Executive Director of Neda Nobari Foundation (NNF), a philanthropic organization promoting social and environmental justice through arts and education. Based in Los Angeles, CA, Keely leads the foundation’s strategic grantmaking, programs and community engagements, working with a range of nonprofit organizations in the local, national and international advocacy space. As a millennial expert and advocate on international human rights and development issues, Keely pioneers’ durable solutions for underrepresented voices, communities and causes in alignment with the foundation’s focus areas: Holistic Education, Innovative Arts, Transparent Media, Earth Advocacy, and Social Impact Cinema.

Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
Iranian acclaimed filmmaker and two times Sundance winner , Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami studied filmmaking( BA) and animation( MA) in Tehran ArtUniversity. Her researches on animated documentary resulted to writing a book, named: “Animated Documentary, a New Way to Express”, which was awarded as the best Persian book on film of year 2010 by Iranian house of Cinema. She has made 6 documentaries and won more than 50 international awards. Her movies have been screened in more than 100 Festivals all around the world and broadcasted from more than 15 TV channels. Her main focus in her documentaries is liberating power of art. She makes documentaries about outsider artists in Iran, especially women who try to have a voice through art although they don’t have any education in art and their life circumstances makes it very unlikely to be an artist. Rokhsareh has been a jury member in festivals like IDFA(International documentary festival of Amsterdam), One World Human Rights Festival ( Prague) and Clermont Ferrand short film Festival ( France)

Basil Khalil
Basil Khalil is an Academy Award and Palme d’Or nominated writer and director, born and raised in Nazareth, to a Palestinian father and British-Irish mother. After studying for an MA at Screen Academy Scotland, Basil worked on television productions in London as well as a festivals & marketing consultant to independent filmmakers.

Basil’s Oscar nominated short film AVE MARIA was described by the New York Times as; “The Middle Eastern answer to ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’.” The film premiered in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015 before going on to screen at more than 250 film festivals and winning over 35 awards internationally, including the Cinema Without Boarders 1st prize. Basil is a member of AMPAS and sits on the committees that nominate short films and feature animation.

Jim Miller
Jim Miller is the Executive Director of Brave New Films, a position he has held for the past 11 years. Most recently he produced the documentary ‘Making A Killing: Guns, Greed, and the NRA. In addition, he produced the docs ‘Koch Brothers Exposed’, ‘War on Whistle blowers’ and ‘Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars’. Jim is responsible for helping to form our partner coalitions to help spread our videos throughout the world. His film experience began over 25 years ago working on the film…

 

Susan Morgan Cooper
Susan Morgan Cooper is a Director/Producer/ Writer and her credits include:

To the Moon and Back, Documentary, Director/Producer/Writer 2016 (A cinematic act of love and courage’ … Broadway World) – Hopper [In his own words] Documentary, Producer/Writer 2013 (“I was moved to tears” Mike Medavoy) – Mulberry Child, Documentary, Director/Producer/Writer 2012 (‘A powerful and touching film’… 31/2 stars. Roger Ebert) – An Unlikely Weapon [The Eddie Adams Story]..Documentary, Director/Producer/Writer 2008 ( ‘A terrific documentary’ The Hollywood Reporter) – Making Of Shadows in The Sun, Documentary, Director/Producer/Writer 2005 – Heroes And Sheroes. Television Series, Director/Producer/Writer 2000
Mirjana: One Girl’s Journey, Documentary, Director/Producer/Writer 1997 – Stringers, Narrative Short Director/Producer/Writer 1990 – Hadley’s Rebellion, Narrative Feature Associate Producer 1989

TOM Papas
Tom Papas, has over 21 years’ experience in creative design, project management and stakeholder engagement in arts and media organizations. His expertise in various aspects of festival management include administration, programming, graphic designing, marketing, event and media management and everything from formatting files and editing to writing print and online articles. Tom’s years as festival director have been filled with highlights, introducing many screen and digital media initiatives that engaged thousands of people, from short film competitions to global film challenges that raise awareness, provoke and inspire social change. He combines film programming with other art forms and introduced numerous special focus strands from new media screenings to educational programs.

In 2014, he founded the SciFi Film Festival and Veterans Film Festival in Australia and continues to oversee their development and artistic direction.

Adam Shepherd
Adam Shepherd, President and Chief Executive Officer of Go Energistics (GoE), has been a champion for social awareness and strong supporter of numerous non-profit organizations dedicated to healing. As the founder of (GoE) a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Adam is devoted to serving the men and women of our Nation’s military, Veterans, and their families by supporting the health care systems that serve them.

Adam not only witnessed but experienced first-hand, how people all over the world are eager to connect beyond their borders and despite their [perceived]differences. Continually moved by the spirit of people, Adam actively seeks out opportunities to encourage and enact positive social awareness and change.

Adam’s appreciation for the arts, especially cinema and its power to globally unite people, drives him to serve a higher purpose that goes beyond traditional borders. Adam’s philosophy and core belief that each of us can have a positive impact in our world are echoed through GoE’s sponsorship of the Bridging the Borders Award; which recognizes and highlights those who are most successful in bringing people of our world closer together through film.

Bijan Tehrani
Bijan Tehrani a film director, film critic and writer, works as Editor in Chief of Cinema Without Borders while teaching Language & History of film workshops and organizes film screening events and festivals. Bijan has won several awards in international film festivals and book fairs for his short films and children’s books.

For the tenth anniversary of Cinema Without Borders, Bijan has received Ambassador of International Cinema Award from South east European Film Festival, Friend of the Festival Award from Polish Film Festival, LA and Gateway to International Cinema Award from Hungarian Film festival.
Bijan Tehrani is recently working on a book of his memoir from Cinema in Iran and a docufiction based on 19th century photographs by Sevruguin, the Russian photographer.

Nominees for 2019 GoE Bridging The Borders:

100 EUR – (Australia) – Director:Aleksey Lapin – It’s Christmastide in Vienna, but Romanian half-brothers Ion and Andrei have little time for festivity as they chase debts and tie up loose ends on the eve of their departure from the city.

Ahmed’s Song– (France) – Director:Foued Mansour – One day Ahmed, employed at the public baths and nearing retirement, encounters Mike, a teenager adrift. Inside the bathhouse walls, in a place on the verge of disappearing, a strange relationship will develop between these two fractured souls.

Backwards – (Israel) – Director:Kalu OjiIn – Tel Aviv, a ceremony takes place every day with hundreds of foreign citizens waiting to enter the immigration office and their gateway to a better life. Only a few will enter. The rest will be forced to spend another frustrating night outside.

Blackwood – (Australia) – Director:Kalu Oji – A novelist and her teenage son face their own unique challenges over the course of a day, finding recognition and respect difficult to come by in small-town Australia.

Bodega – (USA) – Director:Rebecca Halfon – A Syrian bodega owner and two teen girls with a fake ID find common ground on one winter night in Brooklyn.

Brotherhood – (Canada/Tunisia/Qatar/Sweden) – Director: Meryam Joobeur – Mohamed is a shepherd in rural Tunisia with his wife and two young sons. Their world is shaken when their oldest son returns after a long journey with a mysterious woman he says is his wife.

The Clinic – (USA) – Director: Elivia Shaw – Amid a devastating opioid epidemic, a needle exchange and free clinic operates in the shadows of Fresno, CA.

Eva Sola – (Germany/Spain) – Director: Lara Rodríguez Cruz – A young Spanish woman living in Germany reflects on her uprooted life over the course of a frenetic New Year’s Eve.

Family – (Belgium/France) – Director: Catherine Cosme – Lisa gives refuge to a Somalian family, while they are waiting for notification about their continuing status in the country. Miscommunications and cultural differences lead to an increase in doubt and anxiety, and with good reason.

Fatiya – (France) – Director: Marion Desseigne-Ravel – Fatiya, a confident young woman, agrees to replace her cousin at a babysitting gig. When she introduces herself to the mother of the young boy she is supposed to look after, prejudice and racism cause the afternoon to take a turn.

Green – (USA) – Director: Suzanne Andrews Correa – An undocumented Turkish pedicab driver unwittingly draws police attention, endangering his brother, his community and himself.

Just Me and You – (Canada/Quebec) – Director: Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers – An eight-year-old girl goes on a road trip with her father from Montreal to Mexico and back aboard an 18-wheeler, learning far more about each other’s characters than initially expected.

The Shepherd – (Norway) – Director: Brwa Vahapour – While driving to a wedding with his wife and two daughters, a Kurdish immigrant man hits a deer darting across a snowy Norwegian road. The commonplace tragedy reveals complicated feelings underpinning the family’s foundation.

South of Bix (USA) – Director: Justine Lupe, Briana Pozner – A young woman returns home one last time to say goodbye to her dying, senile grandfather, from whom she’s been estranged for quite some time.

This Is Not a (Iranian) Film – (Iran/USA) – Director: Azar Kafaei – Building on excerpts from letters, cellphone videos and official archives, an Iranian filmmaker questions the relationship between past and present.

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Bijan (Hassan) Tehrani Founder and Editor in Chief of Cinema Without Borders, is a film director, writer, and a film critic, his first article appeared in a weekly film publication in Iran 45 years ago. Bijan founded Cinema Without Borders, an online publication dedicated to promotion of international cinema in the US and around the globe, eighteen years ago and still works as its editor in chief. Bijan is has also been a columnist and film critic for the Iranian monthly film related medias for 45 years and during the past 5 years he has been a permanent columnist and film reviewer for Film Emrooz (Film Today), a popular inranian monthly print film magazine. Bijan has won several awards in international film festivals and book fairs for his short films and children's books as well as for his services to the international cinema Bijan is a voter for the 82nd Golden Globe Awards

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