Apricot Tree International Documentary Film Festival
International documentary film festival
2023 August, Debet, Armenia
'DEVILS OF THE FIELDS' by Chiara Faggionato wins the Folk Arts Hub Foundation Special Prize at the Apricot Tree International Film Festival.
Established in 2015 by Filmadaran Film Culture Development NGO, Apricot Tree (ATIEFF) is a documentary film festival that takes place annually in an Armenian village in late August.
The festival screens documentary films of all genres, including ethnographic, anthropological, experimental and even animated. Noncompetition programs include tributes to renowned filmmakers and special screenings. In total, the festival screens around 30-35 films every year. In 2023, the festival has 10 feature length and 10 short documentaries in the two respective competition programs. The out of competition section includes the “Armenian Cinema100” program, Special Screenings and a reflection on the current state of Armenia and Artsakh within the “We Have Each Other” selection. Also, a special screening of the 2022 Martun Adoyan award winner Terra Femme will be held in the National Library of Armenia in Yerevan after the closing of the festival.
In 2019 the festival also established the Ujan Film School, where young Ujanians 1215 years of age learned to develop their artistic ideas and make their own short documentary films with various equipment and especially their mobile phones. The films were then screened at the closing ceremony of the festival. The summer of 2023 saw the implementation of the three month long Debet Film School program, the fruits of which will be screened at the closing.
