Alisa Gevorgyan
Public Radio of Armenia
The Golden Apricot Film Festival will cooperate with a number of foreign Embassies in Yerevan. The Ambassadors of France, Germany, Poland and the United States presented today the projects their countries will present at the 11th Golden Apricot International Film Festival.
“The festival is an anticipated event not only for Armenia, but also the region, as a whole. It’s a festival that ensures Armenia’s reputation on the international cinema platform,” German Ambassador Reiner Morell told reporters today. He noted that German cinematographers have participated in the festival ever since its establishment; the brightest representatives of German cinema have visited Yerevan.
In cooperation with the German Embassy in Yerevan and with the support of Goethe Institute Golden Apricot Yerevan 11th IFF has initiated the special New German Cinema programme, which will present three very recent German productions, which can arguably be considered as some of the best German films of this year.
More specifically, “Jack” by Edward Berger, “In between Worlds” by Feo Aladag and “Stations of the Cross” by Dietrich Brüggemann, films which were presented this year at the main competition programme of Berlin International Film Festival will premiere in Yerevan in the frames of this programme. Moreover “Stations of the Cross” will be presented in the frames of International Feature Competition. The programme will also present “Love Steaks” by Jakob Lass. The New German Cinema programme will be opened on July 16 with the Yerevan Premiere of one of the above mentioned films.
Famed French cinematographers will also participate in the festival. According to French Ambassador to Armenia Henry Reynaud, 17 French films will be presented at the Golden Apricot this year. Anna Mouglalis (actress), Jean-Christophe Ferrari (film critic) as well as Ron Dyens (producer) are invited to serve on the Boards of Jury of the Feature Competition, the Armenian Panorama and the “Apricot Stone” short film competition programmes accordingly.
Moreover, Giovani Donfrancesco (director), a participant of the Documentary Competition, Julien Ezzano- the manager of the department for co-productions at the National Cinema Centre of France (CNC), Dan Burlac, a producer and a trainer for the co-production forums and Alice Ormieres, a producer who will also serve as a Juror for the forum of Directors Across Borders Forum will attend the Yerevan festival in the frames of this cooperation.
In addition, the French-Armenian cooperation in the festival framework has facilitated the arrangements of the Retrospective programmes of distinguished cinematographer Amos Gitai and world famous Otar Iosseliani. To sum up, the cooperation has made possible the Yerevan Premieres of Barbaric Land, a remarkable documentary by Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi and of course the Yerevan Premiere of one of the most important films of the year – a Cannes Award winning Goodbye to Language by Jean-Luc Godard, which will premiere in Yerevan as the Closing film of Golden Apricot.
The traditional cooperation between the Golden Apricot and the Embassy of Poland in Armenia will be celebrated with the honorary attendance of one of the most distinguished filmmakers of our times – Krzysztof Zanussi at the festival and the Yerevan Premiere of his Cannes Palmes d’Or Award winning “The Constant Factor” (1980) in the frames of out –of –competition programmes. Zanussi has been a dedicated friend of Golden Apricot for many years and the festival will celebrate the 75th anniversary of this remarkable cinematographer by granting him the special “Yeghitsi Luys” (Let There Be Light) Award of the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II.
