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Kornel Mundruczó and Radoš Bajić to Receive the Aleksandar Lifka Award at the 33rd European Film Festival Palić

13.07.2026.

Aleksandar Lifka Award for Outstanding Contribution to European Cinema will, in keeping with tradition, be presented at the 33rd edition of the European Film Festival Palić, taking place from July 18 to 22, 2026, in Palić and Subotica. This year's recipients of the prestigious award are Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó in the category of international filmmakers and actor, screenwriter, and director Radoš Bajić in the category of domestic filmmakers.

Kornél Mundruczó (b. 1975) is one of the most significant contemporary Hungarian film and theater directors. His body of work is distinguished by a powerful visual aesthetic, socially engaged themes, and an original approach to storytelling, with his films regularly screened and awarded at the most prestigious European festivals. He studied acting and film directing at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest and gained international recognition early in his career with works such as his graduation short “Afta“ and his debut feature “Pleasant Days”, which won the Silver Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival in 2002.

Since 2003, his films have been regularly presented at the Cannes Film Festival, where he premiered the film-opera “Johanna” in 2005, a loose adaptation of the story of Joan of Arc. He achieved his greatest international success with “White God” (2014), which won the top prize in Cannes' Un Certain Regard section. This was followed by films such as “Jupiter's Moon” (2017) and “Evolution” (2021), further cementing his status as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary European cinema.

His first English-language feature, “Pieces of a Woman” (2020), premiered in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, where Vanessa Kirby won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress and later received BAFTA and Academy Award nominations for her performance. In addition to his film work, Mundruczó is active in theater and opera. He founded the independent company Proton Theatre, whose productions have toured internationally, and has directed opera productions for some of Europe’s leading stages.

Radoš Bajić (b. 1953) is a distinguished Serbian actor, screenwriter, and director. Throughout his prolific acting career, he has played more than 100 roles and ranks among the most significant and popular actors in Serbian cinema and television. During the first two decades of his career, he collaborated with renowned filmmakers including Veljko Bulajić, Živojin Pavlović, Živko Nikolić, Hajrudin Krvavac, Aleksandar Đorđević, Zdravko Šotra, Dragoslav Lazić, Slavoljub Stefanović Ravasi, Sava Mrmak, and many others.

Alongside acting, Bajić has built a distinguished career as a screenwriter, director, and producer. A formative influence on his development as a screenwriter was his collaboration with Živojin Pavlović, one of the leading figures of Serbian and Yugoslav cinema, who directed “On the Road to Katanga” (1987) based on Bajić’s screenplay. Since then, he has focused on developing projects in which he serves as both writer and director.

He is the screenwriter and director of “Heroes of Halyard,” a film that received support from the Film Center of Serbia in 2020 in the category of films with national themes and premiered on October 10, 2023. His most recent film project, “Echoes of Saint George,” directed by Jelena Bajić-Jočić, features him as both screenwriter and lead actor. The film had its world premiere this year at the Moscow International Film Festival and was subsequently screened at the Golden Knight Festival in Russia, where Bajić received the Golden Diploma for Best Actor. Over the course of his career, he has received numerous awards and distinctions for his artistic achievements in film and television, as well as for his broader contribution to society.

The festival will open on July 18 at 9 p.m. at the Summer Stage in Palić with the German film “Oh, This Unspeakable Void” by director Simon Verhoeven.

At the age of twenty, Joachim, the film’s protagonist, is unexpectedly accepted into Munich’s renowned acting school and moves into the villa of his grandparents, Inge and Hermann. Between the bizarre challenges of acting school and the eccentric, largely alcohol-fueled rituals of his grandparents, Joachim tries to find his place in the world – without knowing what role he actually plays in it.

The European Film Festival Palić is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the Provincial Secretariat for Culture, Public Information and Relations with Religious Communities, the City of Subotica, the European Union through the Creative Europe MEDIA program, as well as numerous partners and media sponsors.

For more than two decades, Gorky List has been a valued partner of the European Film Festival Palić, serving both as an integral part of its visual identity and as the sponsor of the Gorky List Audience Award, which encourages audiences to engage more deeply with the films presented at the festival./p>