Winner of 2023 Bridging The Borders Award for 21th edition of Polish Film Festival, LA has been announced today. 2023 Polish Film Festival, LA was held at El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood.
Cinema Without Borders jury picked “Big Little Words” Directed by Mariusz Brozekfor the Honorary Mention and “Stagnant,” Directed by Konrad Kultys as the winner of the MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award., Offered by Cinema Without Borders and sponsored by MOZAIK Philantropy.
MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award Jury Statement: ” As jurors for the esteemed Polish Film Festival, we have had the privilege of viewing a remarkable selection of films that showcase the depth of talent within the Polish film industry. Today, we are honored to announce the winners who have captivated us with their exceptional storytelling, innovative filmmaking, and their ability to touch the hearts of the audience.
The film that receives our Jury Special Award presents a thought-provoking narrative that revolves around a young, educated, and independent woman who tries to take control of her own life. This bold move leads to 
moments of freedom but also reveals the complexities of responsibility and self-determination. Recipient of our Special Jury Award is the well-made “Big Little Words” Directed by Mariusz Brozek
But the winner of our MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award for the Best Polish Short Film, is a powerful and emotional exploration of resilience and self-discovery. Director of this wonderful film, using the language of filmmaking at its best in developing the film’s main character, a tough skinhead who confronts his own limitations., Winner of the MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award for the Best Polish Short Film is “Stagnant,” Directed by Konrad Kultys”
At the award ceremony of 24th edition of Polish Film Festival, LA, Pamela Anchang, Arameh Etemadi and and Bijan Tehrani, Cinema Without Borders jury members announced the best short films as the winners of MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award.
Jury members of Cinema Without Borders for MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award were:
Pamela Asobo Anchang,
Editor, TV/Radio Host, IMpact/ Africa Speaks, The Immigrant Magazine
Pamela A. Anchang was born in Cameroon, Africa. As a child, she dreamed of becoming a journalist, a passion that she cultivated as a young child radio-host in her native Cameroon for a program called Children’s Magazine. Finding it almost impossible to pursue her dream in Cameroon, she left for the United States of America amid political upheavals.
She created The Immigrant Magazine online in 2003 as a medium to publish her articles and provide informative resources to immigrants. In 2004 she started a free print publication that grew from 4-60 pages. In 2013 for greater and national circulation the print magazine morphed into a daily web blog and weekly e-newsletter. This platform is currently being transformed into an online TV network that will aggregate and distribute compelling digital content about immigrants in the US. Her magazine has served companies and institutions such as Walt Disney, The City of Los Angeles, AIDS Walk NY/LA, The Hollywood Carnival, MoneyGram International, Los Angeles Metro, multiple small businesses, famous ethnic film festivals, and multi-cultural events in Los Angeles for outreach to immigrant communities. Today Pamela is the creator and host of IMPact With Pamela Anchang on KPFK Pacifica Radio for Los Angeles, Southern California,
Arameh Etemadi
Arameh Etemadi is a versatile media professional with extensive experience in television production, documentary direction, journalism, and film criticism. Since 2007, she has been recognized as a film critic for Iranian Film Magazine, where she is known for her insightful articles and film reviews. In 2014, she won the award for Best Art Interviewer from the Iranian Society of Film Critics and Writers (ISFCW).
Currently, Arameh Etemadi works as a film critic for Film-e Emrooz Magazine, and her writing has also appeared in a range of other publications, including Chelcheragh, Hamshahri Javan, Shargh Newspaper, Tehran-e Emrooz, and 24 monthly magazine. She was born and raised in Tehran, where she began her professional career as a journalist and film critic for Hamshahri and NaghshAfarinan in 2004. She holds a master’s degree in Journalism and has studied Social Communication Science in Tehran and Arameh Etemadi completed post-production courses at UCLA. In addition to her work as a film critic, Arameh Etemadi is also a talented writer, director, and live TV show producer. Her documentary on the life and works of “Mohamadreza Lotfi” was released in 2015, showcasing her skills as a director.
In 2022, Arameh Etemadi directed and produced two documentaries about cryptocurrency. Furthermore, she co-founded and served as Artistic Director of the Sheed Film Festival in Dallas, TX, in 2016 and 2017.
Michael Franck
Michael Franck is an internationally awarded documentarian, who has directed and produced more than 150 documentaries shown both on Finnish television and internationally. His films main focus is on Finnish and Nordic political history and entrepreneurship, future living conditions seen from a scientific perspective as well as socio-political and human bridge building in the Middle East, where his family has been working and living for three generations.
Currently he and his team have several documentary films in production through his own production company Franck Doc in co-operation with Parad Fakta production house. These include the story of the legendary Finnish Student Union, that came to be a base for the country´s globally known education system, and Michael Franck´s documentary portrait “My Godfather and Kekkonen”, featuring the controversial Finnish cold war time pro-western parliamentarian Georg C. Ehrnrooth,
the documentarist´s own godfather, whom Michael as a young politician in the 1970’s decided to disagree with.
Michaels both older sons; award-winning documentarian Arthur Franck and producer Edvin Franck, also work with their fathers on different documentary
Ahmad Kiarostami
Ahmad Kiarostami is the president of the Kiarostami Foundation, a non-profit based in San Francisco, CA. Before the Kiarostami Foundation, he co-founded Koantum, a platform to teach science to elementary school students in the United States, and founded Fotomoto (acquired in 2012) where he holds several patents on distributed e-commerce. Before moving to the United States in 2001, he founded three tech companies in Iran.
Ahmad makes music videos and has produced 24 FRAMES, Abbas Kiarostami’s final film, co-produced COUP 53, a feature documentary on the story of the CIA/MI6’s coup in Iran that overthrew Prime Minister Mossadegh, and FEATHERS OF FIRE, a visually breathtaking cinematic shadow play by Hamid Rahmanian, inspired by the Persian epic Shahnameh (‘The Book of Kings’).
In 2014, Ahmad started Docunight, an initiative to show Iranian documentaries, with monthly screenings in 25 cities in North America, which is now a streaming service to make Iranian documentaries available everywhere in the world.
Ahmad has served on the boards of The Roxie (the oldest operational movie theatre in North America) and San Francisco Cinematheque.
Ahmad has studied Math and Computer Science at Sharif University. In 2007, Ahmad was chosen as a “young leader” at Asia Society’s “Asia 21’s Young Leaders” summit, and in 2016 became fellow at Aspen Institute, an international nonprofit think tank founded in 1950 and based in Washington, DC.
Rachel O’Meara
Rachel O’Meara has been a working actor across film, TV and theatre for over 20 years, and is a graduate of London’s Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA). Prior to that, she worked in media with the Saatchi Group in London, and in Dubai, also spending years working in Germany, France, Brunei, Nepal and Hong Kong, all together giving her a significant first-hand insight to international cinema. She attends as many different film festivals as she can. Rachel’s selected screen credits include the upcoming “Hyperions” (Cary Elwes), “Mechanic: Resurrection” (Jason Statham, Tommy Lee Jones / Lionsgate), “Day Of The Dead:Bloodline” (Millennium Films),“Training Day” (Bill Paxton / CBS), “Spotless” (Denis Menochet / NETFLIX), “War Inc.” (John Cusack, Marisa Tomei / Millennium Films), “The Experiment” (Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker), “Until Death” (JC Van Damme), in addition to many more indie films and TV series.
Bijan Tehrani
Bijan Tehrani, founder and director of I, Immigrant and founder of Cinema Without Borders (CWB) and CineEqual is an award-winning author of children’s books and short films. Tehrani has been a passionate advocate of human rights, which he has actively pursued as a filmmaker, -historian, and -critic over the past five decades.
Tehrani initiated CineEqual, a multi-faceted program that includes I, Immigrant and is administered by the CWB Foundation, in 2018. Since its founding in 2005, CWB has interviewed and introduced over 2,000 filmmakers from around the globe, a majority of them champions of social justice and human rights.
Terry George, Academy winner and director of Hotel Rwanda, had this to say on the 10th anniversary of CWB: ”At a time when media consolidation is threatening diverse and unique voices, Cinema Without Borders provides a forum for underrepresented perspectives and stories. Now more than ever, we need to reach across cultural, political and national lines. Cinema Without Borders is part of this critical work.”
Pamela Asobo Anchang,
Editor, TV/Radio Host, IMpact/ Africa Speaks, The Immigrant Magazine
Pamela A. Anchang was born in Cameroon, Africa. As a child, she dreamed of becoming a journalist, a passion that she cultivated as a young child radio-host in her native Cameroon for a program called Children’s Magazine. Finding it almost impossible to pursue her dream in Cameroon, she left for the United States of America amid political upheavals.
She created The Immigrant Magazine online in 2003 as a medium to publish her articles and provide informative resources to immigrants. In 2004 she started a free print publication that grew from 4-60 pages. In 2013 for greater and national circulation the print magazine morphed into a daily web blog and weekly e-newsletter. This platform is currently being transformed into an online TV network that will aggregate and distribute compelling digital content about immigrants in the US. Her magazine has served companies and institutions such as Walt Disney, The City of Los Angeles, AIDS Walk NY/LA, The Hollywood Carnival, MoneyGram International, Los Angeles Metro, multiple small businesses, famous ethnic film festivals, and multi-cultural events in Los Angeles for outreach to immigrant communities. Today Pamela is the creator and host of IMPact With Pamela Anchang on KPFK Pacifica Radio for Los Angeles, Southern California,
About BRIDGING THE BORDER AWARD
At a time when physical, religious, racial, cultural, and economic borders divide the population of our planet, efforts to bridge those borders should be appreciated. In that spirit, Cinema Without Borders presents Bridging the Borders Award to the films that are most successful in bridging and connecting the people of our world closer together.
Bridging The Borders Award is offered at Palm Springs International Film Festival, Palm Springs International ShoerFest Film Festival, Germany’s LUCAS International Festival for Young Film Lovers, Australia’s Veteran Film Festival, Southeast European Film Festival, LA, Polish Film Festival, LA and Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles.