The 22nd European Film Festival Palic, held at Palić and Subotica, Serbia, from 18 to 24 July 2015 closed its doors this weekend by awarding the best films of the two competition programmes, Official Selection and the Parallels and Encounters.

The Official Selection΄s International Jury, composed of Christian Jeune (France), the director of the film department at the Cannes Film Festival, president, director Dome Karukoski (Finland), director Ágnes Kocsis (Hungary), director Mira Fornay (Slovakia) and actors Johannes Kuhnke (Sweden) and Sergej Trifunović (Serbia) made the following decisions:

Golden Tower for the Best Film went to Icelandic film Rams by Grímur Hákonarson. The Jury explained their choice: “Rams tells us the story of two brothers who loose what is the most important thing to them: their sheep which is their heritage and bloodline. It’s a film that speaks about universal needs of human relationship in a simple metaphoric way”.

The Palic Tower for the Best Director went to Magnus von Horn for the film The Here After, a Polish-Swedish co-production. With the Jury΄s words: “In The Here After we see young boy returning to his home, a small village, after a horrendous crime. The director plays with a very risky point of view where the one that commits the crime is presented as the victim. The directing in the film is precise and challenging and a first time director performs brilliantly”.

On the Parallels and Encounters competition program, the International Critics Jury decided to give the Award for Best Film to The Gulls by Ella Manzheeva, while the late Vlastimir "Djuza“ Stoiljković received a Special Mention for a standout final performance in the film Stairless by Marko Novaković (Serbia, 2015). Stairless also got the Festival’s Artistic Council Award, for  a “touching story about old people, powered by Vlastimir Djuza Stojiljković’s acting role”.

The Seyfi Teoman Award of the Artistic Council of the European Film Festival Palić 2015, for the bravest first or second feature film, went Ivan Ostrochovský film Koza. “By his style, on the line between documentary and feature film, director Ivan Ostrochovský warns us that we are surrounded by general inability of any action”, the Jury said explaining its choise.

Concluding, this year’s Aleksandar Lifka Award was given to renown filmmakers Želimir Žilnik and Roy Andersson, with Swedish director honoring the festival with his presence, while the Homage to the Lifka Award Laureates program present their most successful works.