12 projects from Eastern Partnership countries to fight for the grant of Directors Across Borders joint film production forum

On sidelines of the GOLDEN APRICOT 10th Jubilee International Film Festival (July 7-11 in Yerevan), the 7th Directors Across Borders (DAB) Regional Co-production Forum will be held on July 9-14.

Art-Director of Golden Apricot Film Festival Susanna Haroutiunyan told media on June 28 that the goal of the DAB is to promote co-production between Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Azerbaijan. Three grants will be issues for development of the winner-projects out of the selected 12 projects from the Eastern Partnership Project member-states.

Last year DAP expanded its forma due to a EU grant. Under the 3-year project, the following large-scale programs were implemented in 2012:  Armenia - Turkey Cinema Platform, Cinema Journalism without Borders" training for young cinema critics from Eastern Partnership countries.  The above mentioned activities are organized by EU funded Directors Across Borders Project implemented by Eastern Partnership Culture Programme and GOLDEN APRICOT Fund for Cinema Development. She said that many of the project introduced earlier at DAP received local and international awards.  The GOLDEN APRICOT 10th Jubilee International Film Festival will take place from July 7 till 14. This year again the General Sponsor of the Festival, the proponent of subscribers' freedom of choice VivaCell- MTS and the Ministry of Culture of Armenia are by the side of the festival. The 2013 is special for the "Golden Apricot", celebrating its 10th anniversary. The festival will host world known cinematographers Krzysztof Zanussi, Godfrey Reggio and Jos Stelling, bestowed with the "Parajanov's Thaler" for their contribution in the industry. The Charles Aznavour star will be opened at the square holding the name of the world known singer and movie actor.

This year the festival has received around 1100 applications from 94 countries (to compare, in 2012 the number of applying countries was 67), which is an evidence that the interest in the world toward the festival grows year by year. This year again the festival will include international competition programs for full feature, documentary and the "Apricot Stone" short feature films, as well as the "Armenian Panorama" national competition program. The films included in the competition will be judged by four juries.  The jury of the international feature film competition will be headed by the celebrated Hungarian director Istvan Sabo; the international documentary film competition will be headed by the 2012 "Golden Apricot" laureate and famous director Sergey Loznitsa. The FIPRESCI and the Ecumenical juries will also work during the festival. The "Yerevan Premiere", "Retrospective Screenings" and "Tribute of Honor" programs expected to bring surprises from the worldly masters of cinema, occupy a special place in the festival events. The festival will celebrate Aram Khachaturian's 110th, Artavazd Peleshyan's and Nerses Hovhannisyan's 75th anniversaries.

The "Golden Apricot" 10th Jubilee International Film Festival will be covered by the leading Armenian and international TV channels and periodicals, such as the "Euronews", "Kultura" channels, as well as "The National", "Sight and Sound", and others.  Before its start the festival will include the "Cinema Journalism without Borders" training for young cinema critics from Eastern Partnership countries. The outcome of the training will be the publication of the "Golden Apricot" daily on the festival days.

In the frames of the Festival the 7th DAB Regional Co-production Forum and Armenia - Turkey Cinema Platform will take place. The above mentioned activities are organized by EU funded Directors Across Borders Project implemented by Eastern Partnership Culture Programme and GOLDEN APRICOT Fund for Cinema Development, the press service of the "Golden Apricot" Yerevan International Film Festival reported.