By Alex Deleon

The 20th Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival will take place from July 9th to 17th this year. As always, the festival will present films from different countries around the world in the competition sections, including films from prestigious film festivals such as Cannes and Berlin. World cinema artists will come to Armenia to share their experiences and art with cinema lovers.

This year, "Golden Apricot" celebrates its 20th anniversary, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Armenian cinema. The festival will pay special tribute to these two significant milestones. The grand opening ceremony will be held on July 9th at the K. Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex, followed by screenings at the Yerevan Cinema House and Moscow Cinema, which serve as the main venues. The traditional rendezvous will take place at AGBU.

The festival will open with the screening of director Jessica Woodworth's film "Luka" (Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Armenia), which had its premiere at the Rotterdam festival. Actor Samvel Tadevossian plays one of the main roles in the film alongside Geraldine Chaplin.

To mark the 30th anniversary of its creation, the festival will conclude with a showing of the new colored version of the film "Calendar" by Canadian-Armenian director Atom Egoyan.

Over two dozen Armenian films in various categories, most of which received support from the National Film Center of Armenia, will be showcased at the festival, including the opening film. A special program dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Armenian cinema will also be presented.

As part of the festival, Armenia will host the first retrospective screening of films by Samuel Khachikyan, one of the prominent masters of Iranian cinema.

The feature-length competition jury will be led by acclaimed Filipino director Lav Diaz, who won the "Golden Lion" at the Venice Film Festival. Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas will preside over the jury of the Koriz short-length competition program.

Honored guests of the festival include the Dardenne brothers, two-time winners of the "Golden Palm" at the Cannes Film Festival, and Portuguese director Petro Kosta, recipient of the "Golden Leopard" at the Locarno Film Festival. Petro Kosta will also conduct a special workshop during the festival for the authors of films in the "Koriz" short competition program.

Among the festival's special guests are Kazakh director Sergei Dvortsevoy, the main prize winner of the "Special View" program at the Cannes Film Festival, and Joël Chapron, the chief consultant for the post-Soviet region at the Cannes Film Festival.

In addition to supporting full-length films, this year's Gaiff Pro educational and production platform will also provide support for short films, making it the first time such assistance is offered during the festival.