Audience award
24.07.2021.
The 28th European Palić Film Festival was closed on Friday, July 23, with the award ceremony for the best European film works, screening film The Duke by Roger Michell and the first two episodes of the domestic series Kljun by Jelena Gavrilović and Uroš Tomić.
Special Mention of the International Jury of Critics was awarded to film A Boy directed by Vitaly Akimov, who said via video link: "I am very glad for this news. Thank you to the Festival for the warm welcome and for enjoying my film. This is very valuable for me and I am very glad." The International Jury of Critics chose Nun of Your Business by Croatian director Ivana Marinić Kragić the best film in the competition program Parallels and Encounters. On the this valuable recognition the author stated: "I am excited. I'm very happy. Nice place, nice festival, and even the award."
The FIPRESCI Award for the Best film in the Main Competition Program went to the film The Worst Person in the World by Joachim Trier.
The jury of the Main Competition Program awarded Special Mention to the British production The Mauritanian, by Kevin MacDonald. Director Ferit Karahan is the winner of the Palić Tower award for the Best Director, with Brother’s Keeper. In the video call Ferit Karahan thanked the Festival and said “that Brother’s Keeper is a film about a boarding school on Kurdish territory in Turkey. I also went to one of those schools. It was very difficult to film there because it was winter, in a difficult location, with 500 boys. It was difficult for me to live in a boarding school, write a screenplay, make a film, and after this most difficult period, I was deeply touched by the great award of the wonderful jury.” The winner of the Golden Tower for the Best Film in the Official Selection of the Festival is The Worst Person in the World by Norwegian director Joachim Trier. On the occasion of winning this, but also the FIPRESCI award, Joachim Trier addressed the audience by a written message: "I am very happy and grateful for the two awards and I am sorry that I am not able to receive them in person tonight. I am grateful to the jury for giving this film, from a small country like Norway, such a big accolade. I am sure that it will help our film reach the audience in Serbia, which makes the whole team and me very happy. Thank you for supporting such personal films. We will use your encouragement to continue our search for stories of human vulnerability and strength. Great hurrah from Oslo!”
At the end of the closing ceremony, the audience was addressed by Radoslav Zelenović, director of the Palić European Film Festival: "We who are involved in this festival, have a lot in mind for the next year's edition, and we hope that it will be easier to organize than this year’s, and especially easier than last year’s. There were 130 films, 15 programs, 150 guests, and everything that makes a festival. Could it have been bigger? Probably. Could it have been better? Trust me, hardly. We had the opportunity to see the latest European production, British films, three films from this year's Cannes Film Festival, films from Macedonia, Hungary, and the world premiere of domestic film, which really filled this stage. Our joy all these days was that this year we managed to make all present at the festival satisfied."
This year, the twenty-eighth edition of the Palić European Film Festival was held from July 17 to 23 in Palić and Subotica, organized by the Open University Subotica. This year, the Festival was held at several locations, including the unique Summer Stage in Palić, as well as the Eurocinema, Abazija and Lifka cinemas. During the pre-festival program and the central part of the event, the audience was presented with more than 130 films from all over the Europe, in 15 different sections and program units. In addition to the rich film program, the audience enjoyed numerous accompanying contents - concerts, exhibitions, promotions, workshops and master classes.
