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Anica Dobra, Phedon Papamichael and Ademir Kenović laureates of the Aleksandar Lifka Award

08.07.2024.

The Aleksandar Lifka Award for outstanding contribution to European cinema will, in accordance with tradition, be presented at the 31st edition of the European Film Festival Palić, which will be held from July 20 to 26, 2024, in Palić and Subotica.

This year's winners of the prestigious award are actress Anica Dobra in the category of domestic creators, director of photography Phedon Papamichael in the category of foreign creators, and director Ademir Kenović, who will be awarded the regional Lifka Award.

Anica Dobra is one of the most prestigious Serbian and Yugoslav actresses on the European and international film scene.

Phedon Papamichael, an award-winning cinematographer, was born in Athens and moved with his family to Germany, where he graduated from the University of Munich and received his Bachelor in Fine Arts in 1982. His work as a photojournalist brought him to New York City in 1983, where he began to enter the world of cinematography. His first short film, the 35-mm black and white “SPUD”, earned him the Award for Best Cinematography at the Cork Film Festival in Ireland. Following a call from John Cassavetes, his cousin and later collaborator, Phedon moved to Los Angeles. While continuing to work on short and experimental films, he began his feature career as a director of photography for Roger Corman, for whom he made seven films within two years.

Phedon now counts over 40 feature films to his credit as director of photography. Some of the famous productions he worked on are "The Million Dollar Hotel" by Wim Wenders, "Sideways", "The Descendants" and "Nebraska" by Alexander Payne, "Identity", "3:10 to Yuma", "Walk the Line", "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” by James Mangold, “W.” by Oliver Stone, and many others. For his work on the highly acclaimed black and white film “Nebraska”, Phedon received an Oscar nomination, a BAFTA nomination and an ASC nomination among other honors. In addition to his work on feature films, Phedon has shot and directed over 100 commercials and music videos, and has also worked on television. He resides in Los Angeles and Athens.

Ademir Kenović (Sarajevo, 1950) is a director, producer and writer from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He graduated in English language and literature at the University of Sarajevo in 1976. He then studied film and art at the Denison University in Ohio, USA. In 1989 he was appointed as professor at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. He has worked on many documentaries, feature films and educational films for domestic TV stations. During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-95) he directed and produced numerous war documentaries, of which "Sarajevo: A Street Under Siege" has been widely screened and has received the BAFTA award. He is one of the founders of "Refresh Production" where he is engaged in the production and distribution of feature, short and documentary films and series. In addition to producing and directing long and short films, he has directed numerous promotional films and commercials.

He was the director of the films “Secret Passage” (2004), “Perfect Circle” (1997), “MGM Sarajevo” (1994), “Sarajevo – A Street under Siege” (1993), “Kuduz” (1989), “Little Bit of Soul” (1986), and many others.

The Palić European Film Festival has been 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 friends and media partners.

Gorky List has been a sponsor and supporter of the Palić European Film Festival for more than 20 years, both as an indispensable part of our artistic scenography and a partner that encourages the audience to delve into the experiences of the showcased films through the Gorky List Audience Award.