Minister of Culture of Armenia Armen Amiryan (R) attends the opening of the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival (GAIFF), one of the biggest cultural events in Armenia, in Yerevan, Armenia, on July 9, 2017. (Xinhua/Gevorg Ghazaryan)
YEREVAN, Armenia, July 9 (Xinhua) -- The 14th Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival (GAIFF), one of the biggest cultural events in Armenia, kicked off here on Sunday.
According to the organizers, this year, the annual film festival, founded in 2004, received 1,100 film submissions from 96 countries. However, only 47 films will be competing in three main categories: International Feature Competition (12 films), International Documentary Competition (16 films) and Armenian Panorama National Competition (19 films).
Since 2005, Golden Apricot has been taking place annually under the auspices of the European Cultural Parliament. It has also received continual support from the Armenian Foreign Ministry as well as the Ministry of Culture.
This year members of the jury for different categories include film director Hugh Hudson from the United Kingdom, director Tom Fassaert from the Netherlands, Jens Geiger from Germany and others The international film festival will last for a week with the closing ceremony scheduled for July 16.
