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Aleksandar Lifka Award Presented to Svetozar Cvetković at the 32nd European Film Festival Palić

20.07.2025.

On Sunday, July 20, at the Summer Stage in Palić, the Aleksandar Lifka Award for Outstanding Contribution to European Cinema in the category of domestic creators was presented to renowned Serbian actor Svetozar Cvetković.

The award was presented by Radoslav Zelenović, director of the festival, who said: "This year, Svetozar Cvetković marks 45 years since he stood in front of a film camera and entered the world of moving pictures. The rest is history – his honorable place in the history of Serbian and Yugoslav cinematography. In May, he received the Sterija Award for his contribution to theater, and tonight he receives the Lifka Award for his life's work in film. And, as the famous jazz standard goes, take my word for it – when it comes to Cvele, the best is yet to come."

Svetozar Cvetković thanked Radoslav Zelenović for envisioning such a festival, as well as Miroslav Mogorović for his efforts to keep this scene alive.

"Dušan Makavejev, my friend and director with whom I worked extensively, once told me that there are more film festivals in the world than there are days in a year. This is one of those festivals, but it has its own reason for existence – because film is rebellion, film is resistance, film is the desire to move the audience and make the world better. At the same time, Dušan Makavejev, who was exiled from this country in the seventies because of his films and his artistic work, told me: we have no place outside this country, but we have our place within it. Because what we have, we should capture in our films and present them abroad, to show the spirit and heart of this nation to which we belong", Cvetković said.

"Thanks to him, and my acquaintance with various people, I’ve had the chance to act alongside Carole Bouquet, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Michel Piccoli, Marie Laforêt, and work with directors such as Franco Rossi and Enki Bilal. They were much more interested in the spirit I conveyed to them than in imparting their own spirit to me. I tried to express that spirit in all the films I made, whether here or abroad," added Cvetković.

"This award comes with great responsibility – not only as recognition of what has been accomplished so far, but, as Radoslav Zelenović said, for what may yet come," concluded the celebrated actor.

Svetozar Cvetković (b. 1958) graduated in acting in 1980 from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade under the mentorship of Professor Ognjenka Milićević. In 1981, he became a member of the Atelje 212 theatre ensemble, where he remained employed as an actor until October 2023. Over the course of his career at Atelje 212 and other stages across the country, he performed more than 70 major roles in contemporary theatre repertoire, working with some of the most prominent directors of the Serbian theatre scene.

He has appeared in more than 100 feature films, television series, and TV dramas, primarily produced in the former Yugoslavia and Serbia, with several international projects as well. Over the course of his career, he has collaborated with directors who have significantly shaped Yugoslav cinema, including Dušan Makavejev (Montenegro, Manifesto, Gorilla Bathes at Noon), Živojin Pavlović (On the Road to Katanga, Body Scent, Deserter, The State of the Dead), Stole Popov (Happy New Year, Tattoo), Goran Paskaljević (Time of Miracles, Tango Argentino), Miša Radivojević (In the Middle of Nowhere, Awakening from the Dead, The Reject, How I Was Stolen by the Germans), Aleksandar Petković (The Outlaw), Goran Marković (The Tour, Falsifier, Multitude and Minority, Delirium Tremens). He has also worked with internationally recognized filmmakers and notable directors from the wider region, such as Franco Rossi (Quo Vadis?), Enki Bilal (Bunker Palace Hotel, Tykho Moon), Goran Rebić (Donau, Duna, Dunaj, Dunav, Dunarea), Srđan Vuletić (Summer in the Golden Valley), and Dimitri de Clercq (You go to my head).

For his work in film, he has received the highest honors in Serbian cinema, including acting awards at festivals in Niš, Sopot, and Novi Sad. In 1994, he won the Grand Prix for Best Actor at the Magdeburg Festival for Gorilla Bathes at Noon, and in 2017, the Critic's Choice Award for Best Actor in Houston for the film You Go to My Head. He was awarded the Pavle Vuisić Award for lifetime achievement in acting in 2024 (Niš), and the prestigious Sterija Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2025 (Novi Sad). He is also a member of the European Film Academy (EFA).

The European Film Festival Palić 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 partners and media sponsors.

For 29 years, Gorki List has proudly stood alongside the European Film Festival Palić as a long-term partner and supporter of film art that inspires and connects. Believing in the power of authentic expression and meaningful dialogue with audiences, Gorki List will once again, in keeping with tradition, present the Audience Award for Best Film. By listening to the voices of the viewers, Gorki List affirms their role as essential allies of art, which lives on through those who truly appreciate and understand it.