7th International Film Festival for Children and Youth took place in October 22-26 in Yerevan and 40 days in the regions of Armenia. The Festival is organized by Armenian Rolan Bykov Foundation with the support of the President and Ministry of Culture of RA, UNICEF-Armenia, EPF and OSF-Budapest. The 7th Festival was dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Independence of RA.

In the frames of the Festival the following events took place: opening and closing ceremonies, film screenings, master classes, creative meetings, concerts, premiere screenings, international film festivals’ presentations, workshops, round table discussions, press conferences, meetings in universities, schools, orphanages, etc.

More than 98 films made in 35 countries were included in the Festival Program.

More than 50 guests from 15 countries participated in the Festival.

More than 15 000 children from Yerevan and nearby regions [participated in the film screenings and other Festival events.

Below listed projects were implemented in the frames of the Festival:

1. For the first time, in the frames of the project “I Have Rights!”, with the support of UNICEF-Armenia, 2 new projects were implemented: “Every Child Needs a Family” and “All by Kids”. Honoured Artist of Latvia, actor of theatre and cinema Ivar Kalnins, together with his wife and 9-year-old daughter, participated in the project “Every Child Need a Family”.
2. In the frames of “All by Kids” a new film nomination was established in which films made for children by children are included from different countries.
3. With the support of USAID and Eurasia Partnership Foundation a new project was implemented in the framework of which 3 children from Armenia, Turkey and Georgia participated in a workshop in the result of which a short film was created
4. “Country Day” Project

“Country Day” was devoted to Japan and was titled “Japan Day in Armenia”. The following events were organized:

Exhibition “Japan Through the Eyes of Armenian Children” organized together with National Aesthetic Centre of Armenia

Classical concert “Devotion” with participation of talented children from “New Names” program

Screening of the animated film “Tales from Earthsea” by well-known Japanese animator Goro Miyazaki

Ishize Motoyuki, Minister-Counselor, Head of Information department of the Embassy of Japan in Russia, and Tahira Mitsuo, Head Director and Producer of Kinder Film Festival arrived in Yerevan to participate in the project.

“You are not Alone… We will Win Together”

In the framework of the project Vladimir Kozlov, MD, Professor, honoured Doctor of RF, Head of the Centre of microendoscopic Otolaryngology of Yaroslavl Regional Clinical Hospital, arrived in Yerevan to operate on children from orphanages and socially unprovided families on completely charitable basis. The project was implemented together with “Arabkir” Joint Medical Centre and Institute of Child and Adolescent Health.

Yuri Entin’s (Russian poet, playwright, songwriter, author of lyrics to numerous films and animations) concert with participation of  children of Zaruhi Babayan’s Music Studio and Sofi Devoyan’s Culture Centre