The Golden Apricot Yerevan 11th International Film Festival Program Director unveiled details of the cinematic event to be hosted in the Armenian capital July 13-20.

According to Mikael Stamboltsyan, competition program of the festival will include the International Feature, International Documentary, Armenian Panorama and Apricot Stone sections; the films will be judged by a professional jury, with celebrated Italian producer Marco Mullerto to preside at the feature competition.

This year, the whole festival is programmed to commemorate famed director Sergei Parajanov. The whole programme including the visual concept of the festival presentation is inspired by Parajanov. For extensive presentation of the outstanding Armenian artist, all his films will be screened as part of a Retrospective programme. Furthermore, various films, dedicated to his life and arts will be presented. Apart from that, a special photo exhibition presenting the artist will be displayed at Moscow cinema for the whole period of the festival.

The festival will be opened Parajanov’s The Color of Pomegranates drama.

This year, around 70 films have been selected out of around 1500 submissions (from 95 countries). 10 will be presented in the international feature, 12- in the international documentary, 18 in the Armenian Panorama (7 feature fiction, 5 documentaries, and 6 shorts) and around 30 short films in Apricot Stone competition programmes.

The festival non-competition programmes- the Yerevan Premieres, Retrospective and Tribute more specifically, will present critically acclaimed films, newly released and classical works of the world cinema. The screenings will be accompanied by meetings with the filmmakers and Q&A sessions. Open master classes for interested students and cinema lovers will be held by the renowned filmmakers.