Audience award
20.07.2026.
33rd European Film Festival Palić – Report from the Press Conference on Day 3 of the Festival
Helena Wittmann: It Is Important to Remain Open
Director Helena Wittmann, recipient of the Underground Spirit Award; "Feels Like Home" director Gábor Holtai; "Home Entertainment" director Dietrich Brüggemann; "Plastic Gods and the Mirror" director Branko Lazić; "Contingentia" director Filip Marojević, "Nino in Paradise" actor Oscar Louis Högström; "Milk Teeth" actor Igor Babiak; "Black Money for White Nights" actors Margita Gosheva and Ivan Barnev; the "Mommy Blue" team – director Bernadette Mayer and actor Benett Vilmányi, representatives of the International Film Festival in Gornji Milanovac, Dragan Arsić and Predrag Nikolić; the author of the monograph It Was Worth It, Jovanka Simić; and actress Gordana Đurđević Dimić spoke at the press conference held at the Grand Terrace on the third day of the 33rd European Film Festival Palić, Monday, July 20.
Helena Wittmann, German director and recipient of the European Film Festival Palić's Underground Spirit Award, said of the recognition: "I feel a strong connection to underground culture and subculture, because that is where I found the things that inspire me, make me think, and challenge me. That is what I seek for myself, but also what I try to offer others through my work. There is a tendency to define everything clearly, place it into categories, and simplify it. I believe it is important to remain open. Today, that is more important than ever, and that is why I am honored to have received this award."
Gábor Holtai, director of "Feels Like Home," which was screened in the Official Selection, said of the film: "In this story, I am interested in patterns of human behavior and in understanding why people give up their freedom in exchange for security or promises, that is, the illusion of security. It is a very broad subject, one that I deeply relate to in Hungary. We made the best film we could. We assumed that audiences and critics might describe it as a thriller or psychological thriller, but our intention was never to define its genre. We wanted audiences and critics to decide for themselves how they would experience it."
Oscar Louis Högström, the lead actor in "Nino in Paradise," which was also screened in the Official Selection, reflected on the film’s central theme: "I think that, in one way or another, we all have a family, whether we were born into it or not. Unfortunately, sometimes those bonds can sometimes be lost over time. But there is always hope. There is always the possibility of making new friends who can become your family and support you on your journey through life. That is exactly what this film is about – finding a way to stand together and confront the system."
Igor Babiak, who appears in "Milk Teeth," screened in the Parallels and Encounters competition programme, spoke about the film’s setting in Romania in 1989: "That period remains very sensitive for Romanians because it marked the end of Ceaușescu’s regime. The film is based, to some extent, on a true story. There was a police inspector for whom this child abduction case was the first of its kind in her career. She told us that every response and every conversation with the parents unfolded exactly as she experienced them herself as a policewoman. Unfortunately, such stories were not uncommon."
Ivan Barnev, one of the actors in "Black Money for White Nights," which was screened in the Parallels and Encounters competition programme, said of the film: "The film is about people living in a deeply divided society. However, its protagonists live in a small village and are not concerned with those divisions. Their only dream is to travel to St. Petersburg and experience the White Nights. The film is really about how they gradually become aware of the world around them. They realize that major changes are taking place while they themselves have remained trapped in the past. Unfortunately, many people in Bulgaria still live that way today."
On the fourth day of the festival, Tuesday, July 21, "China Sea" by Jurgis Matulevičius (Lithuania) will be screened in the Official Selection at the Summer Stage in Palić at 9 p.m., followed by “Elena’s Shift” by Stefanos Tsivopoulos (Greece) at 11 p.m.
In the Parallels and Encounters programme at the Abazija Cinema in Palić, “Solomamma” by Janicke Askevold will be screened at 6 p.m., followed by “Chica Checa” by Šimon Holý at 8 p.m.
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, Gorki 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 Gorki List Audience Award, which encourages audiences to engage more deeply with the films presented at the festival.
