Since 2005 “Golden Apricot” Film Festival has been functioning under the aegis of the European Cultural Parliament. The Council of Europe, in cooperation with Ministry of Culture of Armenia, has initiated “The film as a means for intercultural dialog” conference within the “Golden Apricot” 5-th International Film Festival July 13-20.
The conference will take place July 18 at the conference hall of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia. The conference is organized jointly by the Council of Europe, Japan Foundation and is within the frameworks of the Cross Border Cinema Culture (CBCC) regional project, which is a constituent of Kiev Initiative project of the Council of Europe.
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine participate in the project. The conference aims at discussing the role of film production in the establishment of intercultural dialogue.
The intercultural dialogue has become a priority for the Council of Europe based on the intercultural dialogue (as well s interpolitical and interreligious) action plan, which considers the intercultural dialogue as a source for mutual enrichment of European states and which was adopted by the leaders of participant states and governments at the third summit.
Prominent academicians, film producers, film organizers, media representatives from the Kiev Initiative regional project states as well as other Council of Europe member states: Germany, France, Italy, Japan (16 participants from foreign states) will participate in the conference.
The conference incorporates the following topics:
1.Cooperation in the film sphere
* Dialog between artists
* Film across borders /joint production/
2.Film distribution and film festivals
* Film as a source for dialog
* Film festival: cultural crater
The executives of a number of European film structures (ACE, FERA, Eurimages), producers, festival organizers from Armenia and foreign states will take part in the conference.
The conference is partly financed by Japen Foundation.
The conference participants are”
Jonathan Davis, moderator, Copenhagen European Film and Film Policy Center
Holly Aylett, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, United Kingdom
Irene Bignardi, film producer, Italy
Milana Christitch, head of the European art Exchange Center, Strasbourg
Cecile Despringre, European Federation of Audiovisual Directors, Belgium
Defne Gursoy, journalist, French International Radio
Susanna Harutyunyan, art director, Golden Apricot film festival
Kenichi Okubo, film critic, Japan
Simon Perry, European film studio (ACE)
Ewa Puszczynska, producer, Opus film, Poland
Alexander Shpilyuk, member, Kiev Molodist International film festival committee
Christian Zeender, film director and producer, Caucasus media director
Anna Trigona, project coordinator, Culture and Culture and Natural Heritage unit, Council of Europe
This year the “Golden Apricot” Yerevan 5-th International Film Festival is conducted with the support of RA Ministry of Culture. The general sponsor of the Festival is VivaCell.
