AZG Armenian Daily #127, 12/07/2005

Culture

‘THE 2D GOLDEN APRICOT FILM FESTIVAL ENRICHED WITH FAMOUS NAMES’

Film director Edgar Baghdasarian’s “Mariam” will open the 2d Golden
Apricot international film festival today at the National Opera
Theatre. As last year, the apricot consecration at the Surp Zoravor
church will precede this year’s film festival.

Press conferences launched at Hotel Yerevan yesterday will carry on
all week long enabling Abas Kiarostami (Iran), Atom Egoyan (Canada),
Nikita Mikhalkov, Roman Balayan (Russia), Robert Gedikian (France) and
others to speak about their films presented in the festival.

Film critic Zaven Boyajian said yesterday that the borders of Golden
Apricot have widened this year. “Compared with the last year’s
festival, this Golden Apricot is a few steps in advance. Geography has
been widened, films of renowned directors added to the competitive and
non-competitive programs. This is one of the peculiarities of this
year’s festival. I think it has rather good perspectives if not
financial and organizational obstacles”, he said.

Lebanese filmmaker Carmen Labagi told about his documentary, which
though depicts the life of Lebanese-Armenians, touches upon affairs of
Armenians in other countries, too. For instance, Carmen met a group of
Bedouins in Syria who were aware of their Armenian origin. His film is
included in the program of non-competitive films about Armenian
Genocide.

Karine Torosian from Canada shot her “Stone, Time, Touch” fiction last
year in Armenia. The film deals with national identity issues and
issues that the modern Armenian women face, answer to which Karine
wanted to find in her homeland. Karine starred Arsine Khanjian in her
film. Armenian women share with the feelings they had from the first
encounter with Armenia, compare the real and the imaginative
homelands.

By Ruzan Poghosian