Arpa announces official program for 17th Annual Int’l Film Festival

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Arpa International Film Festival announced the official program and selections for its 17th Annual International Film Festival, a three-night premiere event, Asbarez reports.

Opening night red carpet and screenings will take place at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, CA, on Friday, Nov 14. Arpa, per tradition, will close out the festival on Sunday, Nov 16 with the official award ceremony announcing Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Short, Best Music Video, Best Director and Best Screenwriter.

The festival will showcase 50 films from over 16 countries. This year’s distinguished panel of judges include producer/director Marc Bienstock; VP of Production at Lotus Entertainment, Angus Sutherland; President of Feature Division at Aspire Entertainment, Campbell McInnes; Original Entertainment’s Daljit DJ Parmar; Emmy Award-winning producer Stan Brooks; and award-winning filmmaker/actor Sebastian Siegel.

Two international premieres are set to capture the attention of audiences; the short film Catatonia, written and directed by Karen Khosrovyan and Jivan Avetisyan’s Armenian feature film Tevanik.

Tevanik is a film told in three parts: The first tells the story of Aram, whose childhood abruptly comes to an end by tragic events. The second, about Astghik’s feminine mystique and how her peace turns to war in one single day: losing a friend, a love, and her idol. In the final story, 14-year-old Tevanik also finds himself in the middle of the war, learning about life, death and survival. Tevanik is the recipient of the Best Feature Prize in the Armenian Panorama Competition at the Golden Apricot Film Festival in July.

Both films will open the festival on Friday evening followed by one of this year’s biggest festival circuit hits, I Believe In Unicorns, which was reviewed as one of the “biggest breakouts of the 2014 SXSW Film Festival” by Indie Wire.

Film screenings will continue at the Egyptian Theatre on Saturday, Nov 15 in the Spielberg Theatre with gripping documentaries, Hannah: Buddhism’s Untold Journey and You Have His Eyes. Saturday features include Eric Boadella’s Toastmaster, starring David Hovan. The evening’s centerpiece screenings include, When My Sorrow Died.

Rounding out Saturday’s centerpiece is, 37:A Final Promise, whose director Randal Batinkoff was noted as having delivered “an affecting and involving romantic drama” by Variety. 37: A Final Promise premieres inside the Rigler Theatre.

Closing the festivities on Sunday night, Arpa will show Jack Topalian’s Newlyweds before presenting the Lifetime Achievement Award to legendary actor Mike Connors and The Rising Star Award will be presented to actress Angela Sarafyan.

Founded in 1995, the AFFMA (Arpa Foundation for Film, Music and Art) is a non-profit organization, formed for the purpose of promoting the arts and enhancing the cultural environment of our community by supporting artists who bridge the cultural divide, unifying diverse people and cultures through the arts.