Strong Coffee Isn’t That Bad, a short film directed by Alek Pietrzak, won Cinema Without Borders’ Bridging The Borders Award for Best Short Film at the 2014 Polish Film Festival, Los Angeles. Bijan Tehrani, Editor in Chief of Cinema Without Borders, announced the jury’s decision during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Polish Film Festival, Los Angeles, held at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
“The winner of our award is a film that deals with conflicts of two generations; a son visits his old, stubborn father after many years and they both struggle greatly to overcome their distance and differences.” said Bijan. “Alek Pietrzak has used the language of filmmaking to masterfully portray the sophisticated characters of his film and tell its unique story of interpersonal relationships.”
Cinema Without Borders’ Bridging The Borders Award for the best short film had six nominees: The Bartender, Mother Earth, The Kiss, The Purple Story, Strong Coffee isn’t that bad, and Such a Landscape.
STRONG COFFEE ISN`T THAT BAD
(Mocna kawa wcale nie jest taka zla)
2014 Lagow Film Festival – Golden Bunch
2014 Solanin Film Festival – Grand Prix
Director: ALEK PIETRZAK – Screenplay: ALEK PIETRZAK – Cinematographer: MATEUSZ PASTEWKA – Art Director: DOROTA LACEK & GORCZYCA – Music: LUKASZ TARGOSZ
Producer: MACIEJ SLESICKI
Cast: MARIAN DZIEDZIEL as JACEK – WOJCIECH MECWALDOWSKI as Lukasz – DOROTA POMYKALA as Wanda.
Strong Coffee Isn’t That Bad is about relationship between father and son. In this comedy-drama, the son comes back home after 18years abroad. It is a story about two men too stubborn to admit their true feelings.
Cinema Without Borders’ Jury members:
DREW DENNY
Drew Denny is a multi-media artist, filmmaker and musician. She has worked with the Movement of Landless Workers in Brazil, a cooperative of displaced miners in Bolivia, feminist activists who organize sex workers and sweatshop laborers in Southeast Asia and Central America, and is now collaborating with Greenlandic Inuit and Maldivian activists to tell the stories of people who have to leave their homes because of climate change. Drew is based on the Russian River. She holds a BFA in Cinema Production from the University of Southern California and an MA in Aesthetics and Politics from the California Institute of the Arts.
Ziggy Kozlowski is a partner at the eminent public relations firm Block-Korenbrot Public Relations where he has worked for the past sixteen years. In his role as publicist he has worked on the release and award campaigns of the most significant independent and foreign films of the past decade, among them CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, the BLUE WHITE RED trilogy, HOOP DREAMS, LEAVING LAS VEGAS, AMOUR, and the Oscar winning CRASH. His client roster includes Sony Pictures Classics, HBO, Fox TV, Lionsgate Releasing, and New Line Cinema, among others. Personal clients include Paul Haggis, director, writer, and producer of CRASH.
RACHEL O’MEARA
An alumni of London’s Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA), Rachel O’Meara has been a working actor and producer across film, television, commercials and theatre for fifteen years. Prior to that, she worked in media with the Saatchi Group in London, S Africa and Dubai, during which time she contributed lifestyle and entertainment articles to international magazines and newspapers. Rachel also spent years working in Germany, France, Brunei, Nepal and Hong Kong, giving her a first-hand insight to international cinema, and she attends as many different film festivals as she can.
BIJAN TEHRANI
Bijan Tehrani, a film director, film critic/historian and writer, works as editor in chief of Cinema Without Borders while giving lectures on international cinema and international filmmakers at colleges, universities and film clubs. Bijan has won several awards in international film festivals and book fairs for his short films and children’s books.
Bijan Tehrani is in process of writing a children book and pre-production stage for making two documentaries.
