Apricot Stone

Film journalist and film critic, currently responsible of the weekly cinematic page in the leading Arab daily newspaper An-Nahar, published in Beirut since 1933. He had started his career in 1999 as freelance journalist working with local and regional newspapers from the Arab world. He has also directed & produced documentaries about cinema for various televisions, namely the program The Arabic lens, a series of portraits about filmmakers. Moreover, he participated in many audiovisual workshops supporting young students. He is also a board member in Screen Institute which supports and promotes film in all its forms as an important means of expression of cultural, artistic and social values. Since 2005, he has been covering international film festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto), as film critic and also as jury member. He is also member of FIPRESCI and NETPAC.

Iranian film director and film producer. Was born in 1974 in Yazd, Iran. Saffary has been involved in film production since early 90’s and has directed many short films before starting his studies. He graduated from Tehran Art University in 2000. Won various international film awards and has worked for different foreign TV-Chanels such as Arte. Saffary has made his first feature film The End of the World in 2006, which has won awards at Golden Apricot IFF. From Tehran to Heaven is Saffary’s second feature film, which has been shown at different international film festivals such as Montreal FF and Rotterdam IFF. Just recently he has started the pre-production of his third feature film in Iran.

Born in 1962, in Yerevan. Graduated from Yerevan State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports as a trainer of water polo in 1995. Never working as a trainer, he started working as a silversmith, then painter. At last his pursuit brought him to the world of cinema, his childhood dream. In 1995, he made his first short movie, Silence. Hrant Vardanyan made many commercial videos, also videos of famous Armenian and Russian pop singers that won prizes at the National Music Awards. In 2011, he founded Arev Film Studio in Yerevan and where he works as a director. He is a co-writer of a feature film script 1+1=1 with the Russian scriptwriter Vadim Levanov. In 2014, Hrant Vardanyan’s film White Lambs Dream was awarded Best Short film at Hayak National Film Awards.