Golden Apricot International Film Festival Opens in Yerevan

YEREVAN — Golden Apricot 11th International Film Festival was ceremonially opened in Yerevan on Sunday, July 13. The traditional apricot blessing ceremony was held at St. Grigor Lusavorich Church in Yerevan.

The opening film screening– “Color of Pommegranate” by Sergey Parajanov was preceded by the ceremony of granting special festival medals to two remarkable artists who had worked on the film- Maestro Tigran Mansuryan, the composer of the film and Stepan Andranikyan, the painter of the film.

The legacy of Parajanov, a prominent Soviet filmmaker of Armenian origin who would have turned 90 this year, will be the main subject of this year’s Golden Apricot.

The competitive part of the current festival, which is to be held through July 20, features 70 films from 95 countries in four traditional categories: feature film, documentary, “Armenian Panorama” and “Stone” (short films).

A traditional blessing of apricots, held as Armenian “national fruit” and considered to be the symbol of the festival, took place at St. Grigor the Illuminator Church in Yerevan also to symbolize the opening of “Golden Apricot”.

A number of well-known filmmakers are attending the festival hosted by the Armenian capital. Among them are Kim Ki-duk (South Korea), Krzysztof Zanussi (Poland), Amos Gitai (Israel) and others. Their films are also to be shown during the festival.