"During the Festival, the way films were shot and shown changed - from 35 millimeters to electronics. At one time we had to have projectors for both. We are making a small film on that topic", recalls Radoslav Zelenović on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Palić festival
"When people talk about Palić today, the first idea is this festival. For Nis, the first association is Glumački susreti or Jazz Festival, for Novi Sad - Sterija's Theater... Culture is something that is most important for the survival and identity of a nation. In this context, the Jubilee of the Palić Festival is a beautiful and significant event", emphasized academic Dušan Kovačević, president of the Council of the Palić European Film Festival, talking about the thirty years of this manifestation.
The long-time director and founder of FEF Palić, Radoslav Zelenović, assessed the history of the Palić festival as turbulent, and said that in many respects "it is not an ordinary festival".
"Thirty years in the history of a festival make it a kind of document that has many aspects. It was created in 1992 during the difficult time of sanctions. Blažo Perović and I and others got into it with unbearable ease. We were not aware of what could happen. There were opinions that the Festival could not survive. Fortunately, we didn't give up. We agreed to look for a concept for the first ten years. We tried everything..." Zelenović said.
Thirty years is enough to draw the line, Zelenović said, and reminded that there were about 300.000 visitors at Palić and that thousands of films were shown.
"During the Festival, the way films were shot and shown changed - from 35 millimeters to electronics. At one time we had to have projectors for both. We are making a small film on the subject."
Zelenović marked 2003 as the key year, when it was decided that Palić would be the European Film Festival.
In 2017, the European Union declared the Palić Festival one of the best in Europe, although Serbia is not a member of the EU.
Zelenović reminded that in 1996 the Palić festival was not held because there was no money. Then in 1997, for the first time after the war, a Croatian film was shown in Palić - "How the war began on my island" by Vinko Brešan. After the NATO bombing, in 1999, a "continuity festival" was held with about fifteen films. In 2000, the "Aleksandar Lifka" award became a recognition for contribution to European film, the first winners were Milena Dravić and Mikloš Jančo, and the list of winners of that award is one of the best ID cards of the Palić festival.
"From Milena, Bata, Smoki, Simket, Goran to Duško Kovačević, from Janč, Louč, Ken Russell, Michalkov, Menzl, to Azanavičius, these are the people who are the foundation of our and European cinematography," said Zelenović.
"Đorđe Zelenović, my son, who was with us at the festival from the beginning, took out various information from the archives. I myself was surprised that in the mid-90s the president of the jury was the director of the Venice Festival, Alberto Barbera. Our festival has had a very strong status from the very beginning."
In this context, he pointed out that the presidents of the FEF Palć Council were Milena Dravić, Branislav Lečić, Želimir Žilnik, Mira Banjac and now Duško Kovačević.
"These are the authorities who give this festival its dignity", emphasized Zelenović.
This year's Palić European Film Festival will last from July 15 to 21.
S.Ć./SEEcult
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"Aleksandar Lifka", an award for outstanding contribution to European film, will be awarded at this year's Palić festival by Bogdan Diklić, Andreas Drezen and Nikola Ristanovski
