“Golden Apricot” is more than just a cinematographic event

July 12th marked the "Golden Apricot" Yerevan 12th International Film Festival. The first day was full of events. The week of the festival started with the traditional morning press conferences. During the press conference the Armenian Panorama national competition participants Marine and Sona Kocharyans (How to cross (from Jiliz to Jiliz)), Vahram Mkhitaryan (The Shepherd’s song) and Alex Igitbashyan and Emili Mkrtchyan (Traversed).

The second half of the day was the “Golden Apricot’s” non-official starting point with the traditional apricot blessing ceremony, which was held in St. Anna church this year.

During the first day of the festival the famous Italian actress Ornella Muti had a meeting with the press and the fans.
Golden Apricot paid a tribute to Henrik Malyan’s 90th anniversary with a star next to other Armenian prolific filmmakers on the Charles Anznavour square.

Out of the “Golden Apricot’s” tribute stars, Henrik Malyan’s star is the 6th.

After the ceremony was the screening of the Golden Apricot’s opening film by French- Armenian film director Robert Guediguian ‘Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad’. The film, that had its international premiere during the 2015 Cannes Film festival’s out of competition program, partially talks about the Genocide and tells the story of the relived generation of the Genocide during 1970-1980.

In the evening the official opening was held at National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet after A. Spendaryan. Honorary guests, the participants of the competition and non-competition programs walked through the red carpet to be present at the opening ceremony.

The welcoming speeches were made by the “Golden apricot” Yerevan International Film festival’s general director, Harutyun Khachatryan and the general sponsor for ten years VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian, who told in particular: “With cinema and art in general, we Armenians stand equal among other cultural nations. It is important to present our cinema art and through the latter to present our aspirations, our vision, our identity. “Golden Apricot” is more than just a cinematographic event, it is a cultural mark for our Nation, an important step to strengthen the unique position of Armenia on the cultural map of the world. 10 years of our Company coincide with 10 years of our support to this unique festival,” the press service of VivaCell-MTS reported.
Afterwards the participating films of the competitions and the members of the jury were presented. During the opening ceremony famous film stars Ornella Muti and Nastassja Kinski were given the ''Parajanov Thaler''Awards.

With the first day of the festival opened the one-week long July event makes a promising atmosphere. The joyful energy of the city stirred from the Vardavar tradition, coincided with the first day of the festival.

As the partner of the festival, in the course of 10 years VivaCell-MTS has allocated more than AMD 1.2 billion for the implementation of the festival. In particular, for the implementation of the "Golden Apricot" Yerevan 12th International Film Festival, the Company provided AMD 150 million.