Golden Apricot festival concludes with awards ceremony in Yerevan

Milagros Mumenthaler’s The Currents wins the festival’s top international prize

(Horizon Media / YEREVAN) — The 23rd Golden Apricot International Film Festival concluded in Yerevan after seven days of film screenings, premieres, masterclasses and cultural events, with the jury announcing the winners of its international, regional and short-film competitions.

The festival’s top prize in the International Feature Competition, the Golden Apricot, was awarded to Milagros Mumenthaler’s The Currents. Morteza Ahmadvand and Firouzeh Khosrovani’s Past, Future, Continuous received the Silver Apricot, while Sebastian Bramhuber’s London earned a Special Mention.

In the Regional Competition, Amir Azizi’s Inside Amir received the Golden Apricot. Alexandre Koberidze’s Dry Leaf won the Silver Apricot as well as the FIPRESCI Prize from the International Federation of Film Critics.

Seruzh Hovsepyan’s Dialogues Solitaire won the Golden Apricot in the Koriz short-film competition and also received the Gennady Melkonyan Special Prize. The Silver Apricot was presented to Hovsanna Gevorgyan’s Paid Mourners, while Relic by Sona Khachatryan and Together Alone by Arthur Sahakyan received Special Mentions.

The festival also honoured leading figures from the international and Armenian film communities. Cinematographer Mahmoud Kalari, chairman of the Regional Competition jury, received the Parajanov’s Thaler award. Armenian-American producer Sev Ohanian was presented with the festival’s Master Award in recognition of his achievements in Hollywood and his support for emerging Armenian filmmakers.

Accepting the award, Ohanian said that presenting his work and being honoured in Armenia carried particular significance for him. “I am a film producer, but even more importantly, I am Armenian,” he said, crediting the worldwide Armenian community with supporting his early career and giving him the confidence to pursue filmmaking professionally.

Golden Apricot Artistic Director Karen Avetisyan also recognized French-Armenian actor and director Simon Abkarian and paid tribute to celebrated filmmaker Roman Balayan, who is marking his 85th birthday. The festival concluded with a screening of Godfrey Reggio’s Once Upon a Time.