Armenian-Russian film "Dance with sabers" about life of Armenian  composer Aram Khachaturian did not score just 0.2 points for  receiving funding from Eurimages

ArmInfo. Presented at the  regular session "Eurimages", which took place from March 13 to 17 in  Yerevan, the Russian-Armenian project "Dance with sabers" about the  life of the Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian did not score just  0.2 points for the opening of funding from the European of the fund.  Answering the question of ArmInfo, the director of SNCO "National  Cinema Center of Armenia" Shushan Mirzakhanian told a press  conference on March 23.

In this vein, she noted, this time the fund received 54 applications  from 38 member countries, and only 20 of them eventually received  support. Among the winning projects are 2 animation projects, 1  documentary, 17 art projects. The decision was made, she said, at a  closed session.

Speaking about the film itself, Sh. Mirzakhanyan noted that the  picture from the Russian side was represented by the film company  Ruben Dishdishyan "Mars Media", and from the Armenian side - "JM  Production". The director of the film was the Russian director Yusup  Razykov. In an interview with ArmInfo, the director of the National  Center noted that, despite the results of the 150th session of  Eurimages, the shooting of the film had already started, and in April  the crew would continue working in Armenia.

The representative of Armenia on the Eurimages Council, director of  the Golden Apricot film festival Susanna Harutyunyan noted that the  competition was very high. "If I read the names of the filmmakers who  submitted their projects to the European Fund on a par with us, you  will understand that it is a great honor for us to be included in  this list. Meanwhile, other joint products presented by Russia scored  less points than our film, "she added. In addition, according to her,  at the previous session of the European Fund, Armenian-Russian  projects - Spitak films (directed by Alexander Kott) and Fabrika  (directed by Yuri Bykov) received funding from Eurimages in the  amount of 250 thousand euros and 200 thousand euros respectively.  Answering ArmInfo's question regarding Armenia's participation in the  next session of Eurimages, Sh. Mirzakhanyan did not disclose details,  but noted that the meeting will be held from June 16 to 22 in  Montreal, to which Armenia is compulsorily preparing.

Eurimages is the Foundation for the Support of Joint Film Production  and Rental of Cinematographic and Audiovisual Works, created under  the Council of Europe in 1988 and numbering 38 participating  countries.  Armenia became a member of the Foundation in 2016. As  part of its activities, Eurimages assists in the creation of  co-products; assistance in the distribution of paintings; support for  the theatrical show and partially compensates for the cost of  translating films into digital format.

Nearly 90% of the Fund's funds received from membership fees (about  25 million euros) are spent on subsidizing joint production. Since  1989 Evrymazh has participated in the creation of more than 1200  full- length feature films and documentaries made in co-production.  Many of them were awarded prestigious awards. The financing of one  picture by Evrimazh is up to 20% and in absolute terms reaches 500  thousand euros. Armenia annually pays a membership fee of 110,000  euros to the Fund. Meanwhile, the state annually allocates around 247  million drams for the support of domestic cinema.