The festival, that was set up in 2004, carries the theme Crossroads of Cultures and Civilizations that serves as a mantra for building cultural bridges and fostering dialogue between nations. Every year a festival displays a rich programme of fiction and documentary films that represent diverse ethnic groups, religions, and nations depicting a varied human experience. In 2005 a Canadian director or Armenian descendant Atom Egoyan was named the honorary chairman of the festival.
This year three Polish films were selected to the short film competition – Apricot Stones – “The big leap” by Kristoffer Rus and two student etudes – “Boo!” by Kordian Kądziela and “The Mother” by Łukasz Ostalski. There were 47 films produced all over the world that competed for the main award. On Saturday’s evening the jury comprising of the producer Edyta Janczak –Hiriart (France), director and journalist Pavel Finn (Russia) as well as film critic Stjepan Hundic (Croatia). Finally the Golden Apricot went to Israeli “Welcome and… our condolences” directed by Maria Sahakyan. A Polish “Mother” by Ostalski was given a Jury’s Special Mention.
Since its March premiere at the Finnish Tampere Film Festival, where the film received the Audience Award, “The Mother” is doing well at the European festivals. This month the film is screened as a part of the Pula Film Festival that has just started in Croatia yesterday, while in late August the film will be screened at Danish Odense Film Festival.