Twice Oscar-winning director Farhadi to preside over feature juries at Golden Apricot festival

June 17, 2018 - Two-time Oscar winner and Cannes International Film Festival winner Asghar Farhadi is to preside over the International Feature Competition Program at the 15th Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival which will open on July 8 to unite festival fans for eight days.

Members of the panel of jury in this section are President of European Film Market Beki Probst (Germany), Russian director Boris Khlebnikov, French-Armenian film director Valerie Massadian and the well-known British cinematographer  Larry Smith.

In 2011, Farhadi's 'A Separation' won Armenia's Golden Apricot and this year his latest work 'Everybody Knows' will take part in the non-competition section of the Armenian festival.

Meanwhile, '20th Circuit Suspects' by Hesam Eslami will compete in the documentary section with 10 other films.

Iran-Armenia film production 'Yeva' by Anahid Abad and Irano-German film 'Sunset Truck' by Abolfazl Saffari will go on screen in the Armenian Panorama section.

Farhadi won his first Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year in 2012, with 'A Separation', becoming the first Iranian filmmaker to ever win an Academy Award and also being nominated for Best Original Screenplay.

Five years later, in 2017, his film 'The Salesman' grabbed the Best Foreign Language Film of the Year award once more for Iran and earned Asghar the Best Screenwriter prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

'The House by the Sea' (La Villa), directed by French-Armenian filmmaker Robert Guédiguian, is set to open the festival's 15th edition.

Representatives of Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival, the Ministry of Culture and festival's General Partner VivaCell-MTS announced the start of the film festival which is very popular both in Armenia and abroad.

Among the speakers were Armenian Culture Minister Lilit Makunts, founders of Golden Apricot Festival Harutyun Khachatryan, Susanna Harutyunyan, Mikael Stamboltsyan and VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian. All of them highlighted the importance of years of cooperation.

"This year's festival is of particular importance as it is a jubilee one. On the way to accomplish our mission over the past 15 years we have remained loyal to festival's slogan — 'Crossroads of Cultures and Civilizations'. The Ministry of Culture of Armenia and our General Partner VivaCell-MTS have contributed greatly to the festival. I would like to thank all of our colleagues thanks to whom Golden Apricot is one of the most important international cultural events in the region and has its unique place on the world film market," said Khachatryan.

Well-known filmmaker Ziao Liang (China) will head the International Documentary Competition Program. Among the Board members are Aleksei Vakhrushev (Russia), director, screenwriter, Audrius Stonys (Lithuania), director and producer, Ben van Lieshout (The Netherlands) director and producer, Tamara Stepanyan (France), award winning filmmaker in number of international film festivals, including Golden Apricot Film Festival.

This year the festival will have 15 posters with each depicting the history, achievements and challenges of the festival.

"It is with pleasure that I note that this summer also will be full of a cultural life. I welcome the organizers of the initiative and I thank them for the devoted work they have done. I am convinced that, like every year, this year also we are expected to have pleasant film screenings and meetings," said Makunts.

"It's been 15 years now the Golden Apricot International Film Festival reiterates cinema is one of the pillars and cornerstones in developing the culture. Obviously, the festival educates generations, but it equally shapes a system of values. The proof is the growing number of young people interested and captivated by the art of cinema and the culture in general. This is a truly significant contribution into our country. In this jubilee year VivaCell-MTS stands by the side of the festival," said Yirikian.

Source: http://www.iran-daily.com/News/216808.html