56 COUNTRIES TO TAKE PART IN 3RD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL GOLDEN APRICOT

Yerevan, May 19. ArmInfo. The organizational committee of the 3rd
international film festival Golden Apricot, to be held in Yerevan July
10-15, has received applications from 257 film directors from 56
countries.

The honorary guest of the festival will be the world renowned
documentary film director Artavazd Peleshyan, who will get a special
award for outstanding contribution in the world
cinematography. Similar awards will be given to the well-known Italian
film director Marco Bellocchio and his Iranian colleague Mohsen
Makhmalbaf.

The leitmotif of the festival will be the Crossroads of Cultures and
Civilizations. 50 films will be shown during the festival. The
chairman of the jury of feature films will be the ex director of the
Berlin Film Festival Moritz de Hadeln, of documentary films – US film
director Godfry Reggio.

There will be one grand prix and special award in each category and
special award for Armenian documentary and feature films. This year
there will be no animation films.

Film Directors Without Borders, a new project approved by European
Cultural Parliament and comprising almost 60 film directors from
around the world, will hold its first seminar in the framework of the
festival.

The artistic director of the festival Susanna Haroutyunyan says that
the budget of the festival is the same as last year and is provided by
the Armenian Government – $300,000.