The 15th Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival kicked off on July 8, with Armenian President Armen Sarkissian delivering speech at the opening; the event will wrap up on July 15. Founded in 2004, the film festival is named after an indispensable part of Armenian culture: the apricot, called “prunus armeniaca” in Latin, meaning “the Armenian plum.”
At the festival, films are presented in two international competition sections: features and documentaries. One Grand Prize Golden Apricot and one Special Mention (Silver Apricot) are awarded in each category.
Two-time Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi chairs the Jury. The members include chairwoman of European Cinema Market Beki Probst (Germany), Russian director Boris Khlebnikov (Russia), French Armenian director Valerie Massadian (France), and renowned cinematographer Larry Smith (United Kingdom).
Farhadi initially won the Golden Apricot award for Best Picture 'A Separation' in 2011. His latest project, 'Everybody knows', will be screened in the festival in the out-of-competition category. '20th Circuit Suspects' by Hesam Eslami is the second Iranian film to be screened in the documentary category competing with ten other movies.
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