YEREVAN, JUNE 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The number of film bids received for participation in the Golden Apricot (Voske Tsiran) 5th International Film Festival to be held on July 13-20 in Yerevan was unprecedentedly big, 454 films, 165 out of which were selected. As cinema critic Mikayel Stamboltsian, the festival programs' director, said at the June 26 press conference, the big number of films created rather a complicated situation, but "hard professional work was done and the best ones were selected." According to M. Stamboltsian, the festival's contest programs have been kept unchanghed, Fiction Films, Documentary Films, and Armenian Panorama. In total, 53 films will be presented in these three contest programs. This year, according to M. Stamboltsian, there are also many extra-contest programs: Yerevan premiere, retrospective shows, tribute of respect, European panorama, documentary world, Arab nights, Armenian information program, Directors Without Borders program. Especially this year's retrospective shows extra-contest program is noteworthy, as festival organizers have included filsm of great Persian director Dariush Mehrjui, President of European Film Academy, renowned German director Wim Wenders, and renowned French director Catherine Breillat in it. On the occasion of William Saroyan's 100th anniversary, this year Golden Apricot will present films shot on the basis of Saroyan's works in Armenia and abroad.

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