Last June, during the Artfilm International Film Festival Trencianske Teplice/Trencin in my fatherland Slovakia, where I was asked to do programming for the first time in this year, we held some long and inspiring conversations with the Iranian director Jafar Panahi. Earlier this year, when he received the Hivos Cinema Unlimited Award in Amsterdam, Mr. Panahi kindly accepted my invitation to become our jury president.
Our discussions during the Artfilm film festival were a natural follow-up to the previous talks at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2007, where Jafar Panahi presented his latest film, Offside. Our third communal festival this year would be, July 2007, the Golden Apricot IFF in Yerevan, Armenia. Mr. Panahi was looking forward to show Offside as well as some of his older films to the Armenian audiences for the first time, he said, as was the case in Slovakia.
One morning though, he attended breakfast looking slightly worried – his facial expression revealed something serious was going on. Harutyun Khachatryan, director of the Golden Apricot and also a filmmaker, wrote him a letter announcing that the Iranian Embassy in Armenia demanded that Jafar Panahi’s film retrospective should be canceled. Shocking, of course, but not surprising, since we already knew that Offside was banned in its country of origin, Iran. Nevertheless, it upset us all. We were hoping that the festival management would not give in to this pressure. Being a filmmaker himself, Harutyun Khachatryan decided not to give in, and to not let international politics interfere with the freedom of culture and art. Happily all went well from then on, and Mr. Panahi did become one of the honorary guests in Yerevan, introducing Offside and having discussions with audiences and young filmmakers.
The 4th Golden Apricot edition introduced the Armenian audience to yet another outstanding filmmaker, the Korean Lee Chang-dong, an old Rotterdam festival friend, and our former Tiger Awards Jury member in 2006. His Secret Sunshine, awarded with the 2007 Best Actress Award in Cannes, was included in this retrospective which revealed Mr. Lee’s true artistic nature, and which made a big impression on the local audience. His film Oasis did not leave them indifferent – some of the audience were left oblivious to its deeper meaning, but others fully embraced the film and proclaimed it to be the most wonderful love film of all time.
Visiting the Directors Across the Borders (DAB), a regional network smartly set up and organized by Susanna Harutyunyan, as part of the Golden Apricot International Film Festival was Sandra den Hamer’s last duty in her function as IFFR director. Together with the President of the Pusan International Film Festival, Mr. Kim Dong-Ho, and Harutyun Khachatryan, they signed a declaration of sisterhood of their three festivals during the IFFR 2007 and now personally came to see its functioning. The DAB became a vivid, active and indispensable part of the festival, educating regional industry people how to present their projects and how to look for co-production possibilities or funds.
Bianca Taal, Manager of Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund, was actively taking part at the DAB forum for the first time. The quality of the DAB catalogue seemed to be even better than the official festival catalogue – undoubtedly, this was a great step forward for the festival that I have seen coming into existence from its very beginning, four years ago. One of the biggest changes was the growing presence of the Armenian films – in the Armenian Panorama section as well as in the New Armenian Cinema sections, and especially noticeable in the documentary productions.
Having skipped last year’s festival, I sadly realized that even after making such an immense progress in organizing and the artistic growth of the festival, and after making an international name for itself, it is struggling to find recognition in its home country. A great supporter of the festival, who really understands the significance of the festival for the country, as well as for the re-animation of the local film industry, seems to be Vartan Oskanian, its Honorary President and the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs who visited this year’s IFFR. Also during this edition a small reception was hosted by the current First Lady of Armenia, Bella Kocharian, who dedicated some of her time to show her interest in the festival, the films and the foreign guests - ladies only. At the end of the reception, we were given small pomegranates, the symbol of the country, hidden in the form of a charming local artist’s jewellery.
None of my visits to Armenia would have felt complete without revisiting Yerevan’s pride: the museum of Sergei Paradhzanov. As usual, we were warmly welcomed by the director of the museum, Zaven Sargsyan, whose passion for the importance and the work of one of the world’s greatest filmmakers seems to be limitless. Two years ago I had a great chance to join a trip that he organized for another great Iranian master, Abbas Kiarostami - a personal guided tour to the churches and locations in the northern Armenia where Paradzhanov shot his films Sayat-Nova or The Color of Pomegranates. The unforgettable experience of watching Abbas Kiarostami with his digital camera (undoubtedly the way he did it in the ABC Africa), and the magical powers connected to these ancient places, have left a lasting impression in my mind and my soul, which comes back every time I get a chance to return to the museum. I would not miss that chance for all the riches in this world.