Festival director, ATIEFF
The Eighth Apricot Tree Ujan International Documentary Film Festival (ATIEFF) is now receiving applications of all kinds of documentary films – from ethnographic and anthropological to experimental and animated.
This year’s festival will take place in Yerevan, Gyumri and Udjan from August 20 to 27, 2022
The goal of the festival is to acquaint audiences with the customs and traditions, arts and craft of big and small nations and to interest young filmmakers in the ethnographic and anthropologic material, stimulating their creative search in that direction.
The festival is a celebration of documentary films that depict the heartbeats of diverse ethnic groups, communities or groups of people and a platform where filmmakers from around the world can meet, share and discuss ideas in a clear atmosphere and possibly make plans for future collaborations.
To this end, Apricot Tree is devoid of red carpets and grandiose ceremonies. Instead, the festival aims at creating a cozy friendly environment where participants can bond with one another and the audience, watch films and gain new information about the world and not least of all – have fun.
Festival events are held in close proximity of one another and are mostly concentrated in a single cinema and hotel. Through various excursions to museums and landmarks, the guests of the festival are given the opportunity to get acquainted with Armenian culture and history.
Participants will be invited to an “ethnographic visit” in Udjan, where their films are screened and where they can hike and explore and share bread with the hospitable people of the village.
A conference/seminar will be organized within the frames of the festival, where various issues of contemporary cinema will be discussed. During the festival, all films will be shown on Armenian television, so that wider audiences are part of Apricot Tree.
Apricot Tree has two competition programmes – 30 Minutes or More (for feature-length films) and 30 Minutes or Less (for short-length films). The festival also has a non-competition programme that includes retrospectives and screenings of notable films that are relevant to the festival’s theme.
The jury, working on a democratic basis with equal votes for everyone, hands out awards in the following categories: Grand Prix – 30 Minutes or More; Special Jury Prize – 30 Minutes or More; Grand Prix – 30 Minutes or Less, and Special Jury Prize – 30 Minutes or less. In addition, a special prize is given by the Armenian Union of Filmmakers.
Applicants with documentary films of all kinds can apply; all films must have English subtitles; by submitting a film, copyright holders automatically agree that clips from their films can be used by the festival for promotional purposes; online screeners are highly preferable. If an online screener is unavailable, DVDs must be sent by regular mail to the following address: RA, Yerevan 0052, 30 Aghasi Str. (please, do not use any courier service while sending your DVDs, unless asked).
If selected, the participant will be asked to provide the festival with an MP4 H.264 codec file of the film for screening purposes and a .srt or .ass English subtitles file.
The festival does not cover travel expenses; however, it does provide free accommodation and meals in Ujan during the festival.
The deadline for submissions is June 25, 2022, for more information on rules and regulations please visit http://www.atieff.org/en/submission-rules-guidelines-2022/. To submit please visit http://www.atieff.org/en/submit-a-film-2022/.
Applicants experiencing trouble submitting the form online should please download this document and send the filled out form to info@atieff.org.
