A traditional apricot-blessing ceremony took place in St. Zoravor's Church on Sunday, prior to the official opening ceremony of the festival. The stars of Hamo Beknazaryan, Ruben Mamulyan, Sergey Parajanov and Henry Verneuil were opened on the star Alley in front of the Moscow Cinema with the participation of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Culture Minister Hasmik Poghosyan, Yerevan Mayor Gagik Beglaryan and the world-famous Italian movie star Alley in.
Culture Minister Hasmik Poghosyan awarded the famous actress a gold medal of the Culture Ministry at the official opening ceremony.
120 films have been chosen from the 500 submitted from 75 countries worldwide, including Jordan, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and others. 3 competition categories are being presented in the festival: international competition, documentary and Armenian panorama. 5 juries - a feature jury, documentary jury, Armenian Panorama jury, FIPRESCI Jury and Ecumenical Jury - decide on which film will win.
This year, on the sidelines of the festival, tribute will be paid to the outstanding Armenian director Henrik Malyan?at the age of 85 and actors Mher Mkrtchyan - 80 and Khoren Abrahamyan - 80, director of photography Albert Yavuryan - 75 and the remarkable French-Armenian film director Henry Verneuil,?aged 80. Jubilee programs also include Armen Dzhigarkhanyan - 75, and Atom Egoyan - 50.
For the first time, Armenian jazz bands will perform open-air concerts during the seven days of the festival this year.
The 7th Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival will finish on July 18th.
