24/07/2023 - The official jury of the 30th European Film Festival has also recognised works by directors Ádám Császi, Jessica Hausner and Vasilis Katsoupis

Official competition programmer Nikolaj Nikitin accepting the Golden Tower for Best Film for Afire, on behalf of the movie's team

On 21 July, the European Film Festival Palić wrapped its 30^th-anniversary edition with the traditional awards ceremony – which was held at the Eurocinema theatre in Subotica instead of the Summer Stage in Palić, owing to the adverse weather conditions – followed by the screening of the closing film, Safety First by Serbian director Pavle Vučković. The big winner of the official selection was Afire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christian Petzold
film profile] by Christian Petzold (Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Berlinale), which received the Golden Tower for Best Film. Starring Thomas Schubert and Paula Beer in the lead roles, the film follows a group of young people in a holiday home by the Baltic Sea, amid a wave of wildfires.

The international jury at this edition, consisting of festival director Tito Rodríguez (Spain), festival selector Daniela Weber (Germany), and filmmakers and scriptwriters Nana Janelidze (Georgia), Milorad Milinković (Serbia) and Eran Kolirin (Israel), praised the film “for reminding us again of the unique power of cinema to articulate, maybe more profoundly than any other art form, the state of humankind at this moment in time, on the edge of the volcano”. Moreover, the FIPRESCI jury, made up of film critics Renaud Baronian (France), Mike Naafs (Netherlands) and Alejandra Trelles (Uruguay), gave the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Film in the Official Selection to the same title, highlighting its exploration of “human relations with both a sensible and a sensitive sense of passion and humour, crafting a film pregnant with literature, love and life’s troubles”.

The international jury handed the Palić Tower Award for Best Director to Hungarian helmer Ádám Császi for his sophomore feature, Three Thousand Numbered Pieces, a cinematic exploration of racism and white guilt featuring an all-Roma creative team. In their view, the film stands out “for its subversive and impertinent filmmaking, and the sublime manipulation of time and frame, and for making us face what we would rather not”. Likewise, the jury also awarded two Special Mentions to Club Zero [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Hausner
film profile] by Jessica Hausner (2023 Cannes Official Competition), “for its modern cross of genres and styles, and its detuned harmonies and sublime overtones”, and Inside [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vasilis Katsoupis
film profile] by Vasilis Katsoupis (Panorama entry at the 2023 Berlinale), “a film that comes straight out of Plato’s Cave. What at first seems to be a reflection on the origins of art is soon to become a deep meditation on the state of humanity on the verge of extinction and man’s eternal struggle with his creator.”

After having had the chance to watch and reflect on the ten films presented in the Parallels and Encounters competition, the official jury of the section, consisting of producer Ivana Marinić Kragić (Croatia), actress-director Bonnie Williams (Netherlands/USA) and actress Nancy Mensah-Offei (Ghana), unanimously decided to reward Citizen Saint [+see also:
film review
interview: Tinatin Kajrishvili
film profile] by Georgian director Tinatin Kajrishvili (which recently premiered in competition at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival) as the best film in said programme because of its “powerful approach to a well-built script, with a strongly defined visual style”. The jury also gave a Special Mention to Cold as Marble [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Asif Rustamov. The Azerbaijani-French production, which was presented last year at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (where it won the Best Actor Award for Gurban Ismailov) was singled out by the members of the jury because it “tells a love story that exposes the violent effects of generational trauma in a patriarchal society”.

Finally, the Gorky List Audience Award went to The Old Oak [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by British master Ken Loach. Written by his frequent collaborator Paul Laverty, the film had its world premiere in the competition for the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Official selection

Golden Tower for Best Film
Afire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christian Petzold
film profile] – Christian Petzold (Germany)

Palic Tower for Best Director
Three Thousand Numbered Pieces – Ádám Császi (Hungary)
Special Mentions
Club Zero [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Hausner
film profile] – Jessica Hausner (Austria/UK/Germany/France/Denmark)
Inside [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vasilis Katsoupis
film profile] – Vasilis Katsoupis (Greece/Germany/Belgium)

FIPRESCI Award for Best Film
Afire – Christian Petzold (Germany)

Parallels and Encounters

Best Film
Citizen Saint [+see also:
film review
interview: Tinatin Kajrishvili
film profile] – Tinatin Kajrishvili (Greece/France/Bulgaria)
Special Mention
Cold as Marble [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Asif Rustamov (Azerbaijan/France)

Gorky List Audience Award
The Old Oak [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Ken Loach (UK/France/Belgium)