# 6th Yerevan Golden Apricot International Film Festival

The 6th Yerevan Golden Apricot International Film Festival was a film festival held in Yerevan, Armenia from 12–19 July 2009. The annual festival had over 450 submissions from 67 countries, 150 of which were included into the competition and non-competition programs. Over 250 accredited press representatives (foreign and local) covered the festival. This was the fourth year the festival was widely covered by Euronews. Among honorable guests were filmmakers Rob Nilsson (United States), Kohei Oguri (Japan), Alexander Rodnyansky (Russia), Sergei Solovyov (Russia), actors Eric Bogosian (United States), Arsinee Khanjian (Canada) and producer Alain Terzian. The international juries, headed by Kohei Oguri, Alexander Rodnyansky, Haig Balian (Netherlands) awarded the following prizes: Golden Apricot 2009 for the Best Feature Film to George Ovashvili for his film The Other Bank (Georgia); Golden Apricot 2009 for the Best Documentary Film to Anders Østergaard for his film Burma VJ - Reporting from a Closed Country (Denmark), and Golden Apricot 2009 for the Best Film in the “Armenian Panorama” to With Love and Gratitude by Arka Manukyan (Armenia). The FIPRESCI Award went to Ozcan Alper’s Autumn and the Ecumenical Award to George Ovashvili’s The Other Bank.

## About the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival

The Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival (GAIFF) (Armenian: «Ոսկե Ծիրան» Երևանի միջազգային կինոփառատոն) is an annual film festival held in Yerevan, Armenia. The festival was founded in 2004 with the co-operation of the “Golden Apricot” Fund for Cinema Development, the Armenian Association of Film Critics and Cinema Journalists. The GAIFF is continually supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the RA, the Ministry of Culture of the RA and the Benevolent Fund for Cultural Development.The objectives of the festival are "to present new works by the film directors and producers in Armenia and foreign cinematographers of Armenian descent and to promote creativity and originality in the area of cinema and video art".

## Awards GAIFF 2009

| Category | Award | Film | Director | Country |
| International Feature Competition | Golden Apricot for Best Feature Film | The Other Bank | George Ovashvili | Georgia, Kazakhstan |
| International Feature Competition | Silver Apricot Special Prize for Feature Film | Scratch | Michał Rosa | Poland |
| International Feature Competition | Jury Diploma | Autumn | Özcan Alper | Turkey, Germany |
| International Documentary Competition | Golden Apricot for Best Documentary Film | Burma VJ - Reporting from a Closed Country | Anders Østergaard | Denmark |
| International Documentary Competition | Silver Apricot Special Prize for Documentary Film | The Living | Sergey Bukovsky | Ukraine |
| International Documentary Competition | Jury Special Mention | Supermen of Malegaon | Faiza Ahmad Khan | India, Singapore, Japan |
| Armenian Panorama Competition | Golden Apricot for Best Armenian Film | With Love and Gratitude | Arka Manukyan | Armenia |
| Armenian Panorama Competition | Jury Diploma | Caucasian Niece | Levon Kalantar | Armenia |
| Armenian Panorama Competition | Jury Diploma | A World of Our Own | Frédéric Balekdjian | France |
| Special Prize "Master" | Special Prize "Master" | Special Prize "Master" | Kohei Oguri | Japan |
| Special Prize "Master" | Special Prize "Master" | Special Prize "Master" | Rob Nilsson | United States |
| Special Prize "Master" | Special Prize "Master" | Special Prize "Master" | Sergei Solovyov | Russia |
| FIPRESCI Award | FIPRESCI Award | Autumn | Özcan Alper | Turkey, Germany |
| Ecumenical Jury Award | Ecumenical Jury Award | The Other Bank | George Ovashvili | Georgia, Kazakhstan |