18th Golden Apricot IFF to kick off with Nadav Lapid`s "Ahed`s Knee"

ArmInfo.The 18th Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival will be held on October 3-10, 2021. As the official website of the Film Festival reports, the  festival will kick off with the award-winning film "Ahed's Knee" by  Israeli award-winning director Nadav Lapid. The organizers of the  festival mentioned this during the first press conference dedicated  to the festival.

Artistic Director of the Golden Apricot Yerevan IFF Karen Avetisyan  presented the new poster of the festival, authored by Paris-based  artist Vahram Muratyan, a graphic designer and illustrator of  bestselling graphic novels.

He told the journalists that one of the honorary guests of GAIFF 2021  is Israeli director, Golden Bear (Synonyms, 2019), Cannes Special  Jury Prize winner (Ahed's Knee, 2021) Nadav Lapid. The beginning of  the 18th film festival will be marked by his film.

The honorary guest of the festival is the famous American  screenwriter and director Paul Schrader. The latter is the  screenwriter of Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", as  well as director of "The Last Temptation of Christ", "American  Gigolo", "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters", "First Reformed" and 20  other films and laureate of 30 international film festvals. 

Among the guests of the festival is Cornell Mundruzo,  Hungarian  theater and film director, laureate of dozens of other prestigious  film festivals in Cannes, Locarno.  Head of the International  Department of the Golden Apricot IFF Varvara Hovhannisyan noted, that  in the frames of the "Yerevan Premieres" program, films from Cannes,  Berlin, and other international film festivals will be presented. In  particular, the films "Annette" by Leos Carax, "Benedetta" by Paul  Verhoeven, "A Hero" by Asghar Farhadi, "Vortex" by  Gaspar Noe will  be shown from Cannes.  Victor Kossakovsky's "Gunda", Maria Speth's  "Mr. Bachmann and His Class" and Denis Cote's "Social Hygiene" will  be screened from the Berlin International Film Festival.

The Golden Apricot IFF is supported by the RA Ministry of Education,  Science, Culture and Sports.

RA Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Ara  Khzmalyan emphasized the importance of the festival in terms of  raising the country's rating all over the world.

"This is the second year that we are holding the festival overcoming  indescribable difficulties. I am glad that despite all the historical  and political obstacles and difficulties, we are organizing our best  festival and we do not interrupt its course.  This is not just a  festival. Today the festivals are a form of public self-expression,  thus we confirm the continuity of life," - Ara Khzmalyan noted. He  told the journalists that the festival includes a list of films that  will capture how different countries overcame crises throughout  history. They will help us believe in the bright future.  In addition  to the main program through October 3 to 10, the Golden Apricot will  run throughout whole October.