I want to see Armenian films not only in Yerevan, but also in New  York, Cannes, Berlin - Alexander Payne 

ArmInfo. During the closing ceremony of the 21st Golden Apricot International Film Festival, its  founder Harutyun Khachatryan presented the Thaler Parajanov Award for his contribution to world cinema to Oscar-winning American director Alexander Payne.

The director thanked for such a warm welcome and patience, since he  was invited to Armenia for the Golden Apricot film festival 10 years  ago. Receiving "Taler Parajanov", Payne noted that he would have come  to our country without awards.

He admitted that after passing the 63rd milestone, you begin to worry  more about the future generation, and the most important thing,  according to the outstanding director, is their inspiration.

"I felt this in Yerevan during 2 important events. The first was when  I watched the film <1489> Shohakat Vardanyan. And the second is my  meeting at TUMO, where I answered questions from children aged 12 to  16 years. I don't know why, but some inner force pushes them to  become filmmakers, and we must encourage them. Because I want to see  Armenian films and stories not only in Yerevan, but also in New York,  Cannes, Berlin and other cities," Payne said.

In turn, Artuyun Khachatryan said that he met Alexander Payne during  a retrospective screening of his films, organized at one of the film  festivals in the USA.

This year Alexander Payne was the chairman of the jury of the  feature-length film competition program at the Golden Apricot film  festival. Payne is a two-time Oscar winner whose eight feature films  have been nominated for a total of 24 Oscars, including 4 times in  the Best Picture category and 3 times in the Best Director category.

The 21st Golden Apricot Film Festival was dedicated to the 100th  anniversary of Sergei Parajanov and Charles Aznavour. The guest of  honor this year was the legendary American actor, winner of an Oscar,  Golden Globe and other prestigious awards, Kevin Spacey. Among the  famous guests are also Tarsem Singh, Atom Egoyan, Maxim Vitorgan,  Anton Dolin and others.

"Golden Apricot" was held this year with the support of the Ministry  of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia and the Yerevan  City Hall. Support for the film festival was also provided by the  French Embassy in Armenia, the French Institute, the Embassy of the  Kingdom of the Netherlands in Armenia and the Goethe Institute.

The founders of the film festival are Harutyun Khachatryan, Mikael  Stamboltsyan and Susanna Harutyunyan. Director and artistic director  of the film festival Karen Avetisyan.