YEREVAN.-  The 8th Golden Apricot International Film Festival has a new competition program, “Apricot Stone,” which includes short films.

During a press conference held on Friday organizers of the competition program film directors Aram Shahbazyan, Vardan Hakobyan, Gagik Ghazare, Lusine Sargsyan and script writer Astghik Simonyan presented the films and the jury members.

Golden Apricot gives the young filmmakers the opportunity to fulfill their ideas, express their own requirements and standards for selecting films and also make their own voting under this new competition title.

The festival has received 135 film entries, 25 out of them from 18 countries were selected for the competition. Thierry Lenouvel (France) is invited to be the Jury President of the program. The other jury members are: famous film expert Olga Shervud (Russia) and Garine Torossian, Canadian-Armenian film director.

The following films are included in the “Apricot Stone” competition program:

“Via Gori,” George Barbakadze, Australia
“I Could Be Your Grandmother,” Bernard Tanguy, France
“It’s a Long Way Home,” Gregory Rentis, USA/Greece
“Glasgow,” Piotr Subbotko, Poland
“Return,” Harri J. Rantala, Finland
“The Piano Tuner,” Olivier Treiner, France
“Slugs,” Maria Lundqvist, Sweden
“Awaiting Her,” James Joint, Honduras
“Story of Nobody,” Manfredi Lucibello, Italy
“Ambitious,” Ainur Askarov, Russia
“Laaf,” Loic Tanson, Thierry Besseling, Luxemburg
“On the Other Side,” Livia Coullias Blanc, France
“Mephisto,” Laurence Vaissiere, France
“Peter Grass is Dead Twice,” Jean-Jacques Cunnac, France
“Flower Dance,” Lusine Sargsyan, Armenia
“The Baby,” Mohammadreza Hajipour, Portugal
“Bycicle,” Serhat Karaaslan, Turkey
“Lighthearted Boy,” Marco Gianfreda, Italy
“Waiting,” Jow Zhi Wei, Singapore
“Wingled Illusion,” Tatev Isakhanyan, Armenia
“Galata,” Diana Kardumyan, Armenia/Turkey
“Morning, Noon, Evening…and Morning,” Gayaneh Jiji, France/Syria
“Lemonary,” Vasiliy Fenin, Russia
“Sea of Desires,” Shota Gamisonia, Russia
“Hotel Chambord,” Dorothée Baert, Belgium
“L’or blanc,” Adama Salle, Morroco

The 8th Golden Apricot  Yerevan International Film Festival will be held from July 10-17, 2011, thanks to the faithful partners VivaCell MTS corporation, as a general sponsor and the Ministry of Culture as a state support.