11th Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival

Yerevan, the beautiful and historical Armenian capital, located in South Caucasus where Eastern Europe and Western Asia interconnects, is surely the right place to host The Golden Apricot Film Festival, since it’s dedicated to promoting the Crossroads of Cultures and Civilisations. Founded in 2004 by Harutyun Khachatryan, Susanna Harutyunyan and Mikayel Stamboltsyan, the festival has also had Canadian-Armenian director Atom Egoyan as its honorary chairmen since 2005. Given its open spirit it is very common to see filmmakers, journalists and different generations of the public in an almost family environment where film experiences and multicultural differences are shared, frequently while enjoying the taste of this delicious fruit.

This year the 11th edition, held from the 13th to the 20th of July, was dominated by the spell of Armenia’s cultural symbol, Sergei Parajanov, along with a diverse selection of films spread over several competitive sections, incorporating fiction, documentaries and shorts and totalling almost 200 films.

The Golden Apricot is the main award, recognising the merit of a feature competition comprised of 12 films. In this year’s edition the chosen film was The Tribe (Plemya) from Ukranian director Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, the same title that received 2014’s FIPRESCI award. The Silver Apricot went to Blind Dates (Shemtkhveviti Paemnebi) by Levan Koguashvili. As for the ecumenical jury, the choice went to the Armenian film The Abode (Shkamutk) by Lusine Sargsyan. Directors Jia Zhangke (China), Kim-ki-duk (South Korea), Amos Gital (Israel) and Otar Iosseliani (Georgia) received the Parajanov Thaler for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema. (Paulo Portugal)

Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival: www.gaiff.am