The “Discover America” film festival organised by the U.S. Embassy to Turkmenistan and the Ministry of Culture and Broadcasting Activities of Turkmenistan was opened in Ashgabat.

The film festival was opened on the occasion of the U.S. national holiday Columbus Day - a U.S. national holiday, commemorating the date of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Since 1971, the holiday has been commemorated in the U.S. on the second Monday in October.

The programme of the festival arranged at the B. Amanov State Children’s Librray included the famous movies such as “Million Dollar Baby”, “The Fisher King”, “Tootsie”, “Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid”.

The organizers of the film festival think that the films created in different genres will give great pleasure to Turkmen movie goers and help them to discover the diversity of the American cinematography.

“Citizen Kane”, a 1941 drama film directed and produced by Orson Welles who played the key role in the film - a newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane, opened the festival. “Citizen Kane” was Orson Welles’s first feature film that brought him the tremendous success. Citizen Kane is often cited as being one of the most innovative works in the history of film. In 2007 the American Film Institute placed it at number-one in its list of the 100 greatest U.S. movies of all time.

Speaking at the opening ceremony U.S. Charge d’Affaires a.i., Ambassador Richard Hoagland said that the festival would undoubtedly, promote further enhancement of the friendly relations between the people of Turkmenistan and the United States, expansion of fruitful cultural co-operation between the two countries.

The American films will be screened for the people and guests of Ashgabat within two weeks.