Fourth Yerevan Salento International Film Festival

On November 28th and 29th the Naregatsi Art Institute was the host to the Salento International Film Festival. It is held in Armenia for the 4th time.
This time the closing ceremony was held in Best Western Congress Hotel. The concert part was provided by the Naregatsi Art Institute's Nova Folk Instruments Ensemble under the artistic supervision of the RA Honored Worker of Culture Hovik Sahakyan. The evening started with Armenian folk dance, followed by soloists Lusine Aghajanyan, Nare Avagyan, Arman Arakelyan. The audience enjoyed pure national songs and music.

In attendance at the Festival was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Italian Republic in Armenia H.E.Mr.Vincenzo del Monaco. Among those present was also cinema and theatre actor Michael Poghosyan, whom the Festival founder Luigi Campanile handed the prestigious Salento Cinema Actor Award in recognition of his timeless contributions to Armenian and international cinema.

Within the festival a selection of four feature films was screened for the Armenian film fans with English subtitles.

Festival founder Luigi Campanile mentioned in his speech,

- The Salento Film Festival has been held in Armenia since 2015, this is the fourth year and this year as well the festival is held in the Naregatsi Art Institute. We have managed to make friends with the staff of the Institute, and I am glad for our cooperation. The films screened this year have been shown in a number of countries. These films are the best and have received positive feedback. The festival will be continuous.

During the closing ceremony, the organizers of the Salento Festival provided a possibility for the film viewers to enter the draw for a chance to win a six-day vacation for two at the beautiful 4 star hotel in Tricase, Salento during the 2019 Salento International Film Festival, which will be held in September.

The culmination of the event was the premiere of the comedy film "Hotel Gagarin", which is the result of Armenian-Italian joint work.

The Salento International Film Festival was first launched in 2004 by Luigi Campanile. It is held in many cities around the world, as Yerevan, Moscow, London, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New-York and more. Within the festival, the films of the independent directors are presented in the host country, which is considered to be the most effective means of communication. Thus, the festival is aimed to draw attention to the films, the authors of which are looking for distributors.