YEREVAN, AUGUST 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The Golden Apricot on Wheels of the Golden Apricot International Film Festival travelled to Artsakh on August 19-23, already for the third time. The previous two years the films of the festival were shown only in Shushi at the Narekatsi Art Union, and this year the organizers held the festival also in Stepanakert. According to the film program organizers, Yerevan's Golden Apricot on Wheels Festival that opened at the hall of the Culture House on August 20 with Sergei Paradjanov's "Color of Pomegranate" united film lovers. Minister of Culture of Artsakh Narine Aghbalian who was present at the opening ceremony of the festival said that the Golden Apricot gives an opportunity to the audience of Artsakh to see and know the best Armenian and foreign films. The Minister is sure that such projects are of great importance for the prosperity of the population of Artsakh. She hoped that the Golden Apricot Festival will become continual and will go round all distant settlements of NKR. Deputy Director of the festival Ara Khanjian told the film audience that the 40th anniversary of Sergei Paradjanov's "Color of Pomegranate" and the 85th birth anniversary of its author are marked this year and that is why it was chosen as the opening film of the festival. A. Khanjian also noted that H. Khachatrian's "Border", Spartak Gharabaghtsian's "The Vandals of the 20th Century" and "By the Tracks of Toros Roslin", Karen Hovhannisian's "Ghost," Hamshen Armenian film director Ozchen Alper's "Autumn" and other films were selected for Artsakh festival. The Director General of the Golden Apricot International Film Festival is pleased with the program of the film on the wheel as two festivals held in Shushi gave their positive results: "This year there was no free room at the Narekatsi Art Union, that is why people already look forward to the festival each year. It is a great victory for me." And as to the festival held in Stepanakert, H. Khachatrian is sure that it will attract more people in a year or two, though he is also pleased with the audience of this year: "there were 250-300 people at the hall but they knew the real value of a film," he said. H. Khachatrian thinks that film is the strongest weapon of the arts and the thing which the political figures and politicians fail to do for years the film can do very quickly. The director of the festival, however, is sure that Armenians cannot rightly use that cultural weapon.

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