6th Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival

For those who still do not know Armenia and its capital Yerevan, this dynamic festival is a good initiative to know better the inhabitants and the art of this friendly country. Golden Apricot is the name of this festival, well known in this biblical landscape with Ararat Mount at the horizon and its orchards of apricots, which will be blessed in a church the day of the festival’s opening. A very rich festival (more than 300 films) of many styles (fiction, documentary, shorts, etc.) and many countries, Armenia is naturally represented, as well as Iran, Turkey, Japan, but also France, having French-Armenian producer Alain Terzian, in Yerevan with his Laurent Tuel produced Inside Ring (Le premier cercle) and the Change of Plans (Le code a changé) by Danielle Thompson. The festival also screened a retrospective of films by Rob Nilsson with his famous Northern Lights; by Jerzy Skolimowski who was present with his most recent film; Four Nights with Anna among the others, and by Kohei Oguri with his Muddy River (Doro No Kawa) and other eminent works. Tributes to Armenian filmmakers Arman Manaryan, Bagrat Hovhannisyan and Yubik Muradyan were organized, giving everyone an exceptional opportunity for a better acquaintance with the Armenian cinema. The Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival and prestigious master classes are attractive particularly for the young public and passionate spectators. Armenia is a very singular country with a vast diaspora all over the world, which also knew how to keep in touch with its roots, culture and language, confronted by the genocide and various dominations. With numerous sections and juries, in which Kohei Oguri, Arsinée Khanjian, Eric Bogosian, Nana Djordjadze and many others participated; Golden Apricot is an international festival which could easily be the envy of many festival directors worldwide, not least for its welcoming in the heart of a charming city. Golden apricot, sun and magic combine at the right place in a country where we still speak with passion for legendary directors such as Federico Fellini and Sergei Parajanov. Moreover, the presidents of this festival, Harutyun Khachatryan whose film Border was presented in preview, and Atom Egoyan decided to finish this year’s magnificent festival by projecting Parajanov’s legendary film from 1969, The Color of Pomegranates (Sayat Nova), which we see regrettably too rarely. One more time a story of a fruit! (Jean-Max Mejean)

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