WHILE festival organisers and exhibitors around the world had to contend with the restrictions the pandemic has unleashed, Armenia has had to persevere through the latest armed conflict in its region, the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.
Even though a ceasefire agreement is in place, Armenians are still reeling from the effects of escalation which claimed 3,000 people, and billions in monetary losses. The task ahead for curators and programmers of the 19th Golden Apricot International Film Festival (GAIFF) seems monumental considering these circumstances.
The festival did not shy away from these issues and addressed them head-on, by kicking off with ‘Amerikatsi’ (American) by Emmy-award winning director Michael Goorjian which revolves around the Armenian genocide.
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The official opening ceremony of the festival took place on July 10 at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall. After several years of uncertainty, the GAIFF is regaining its voice as the leading film festival in the region with an exceptional line-up of international films while placing equal significance to Armenian cinema.
“In 2020, the festival was held in parallel with the War in Artsakh, which was a small victory. If war as a phenomenon itself is a defeat, culture is surely capable of victories, particularly in cases when those aims were to stand for culture.
“The 2020 edition was the smallest but the most existential. In 2021, in post-war and pandemic conditions, we were able to present a complete programme, hosting filmmakers such as Paul Schrader, Nadav Lapid, and Kornél Mundruczó, while this year we want to finally try to soar, even though the evil of war never seems to end, only to migrate from one region to another,” the artistic director of the festival, Karen Avetisyan, said in an interview.
This year’s honorees include the likes of Albert Serra, Costa Gavras, Ilya Khrzhanovsky and Oscar-nominated director Terry George, who also heads the jury at this year’s festival.
An extension of the festival is GAIFF Pro, which is the industry platform consisting of a whole slew of technical programs such as co-production markets, mentoring, pitching sessions, critics workshops and masterclasses.
Industry experts and professionals from around the world have been invited to participate and panel discussions with acclaimed filmmakers are slated to take place. – The Vibes, July 14, 2022
