The 24th European Film Festival Palic (July 15-21) wrapped on Friday with the victory of Sofia Exarchou`s Park.

The Greek film won the main award of the festival, the Golden Tower, while the Palić Tower award for Best Director went to Germany`s Helene Hegemann for "Axolotl Overkill", which had its world premiere at Sundance. A special mention went to Igor Bezinovic for A Brief Excursion, which also won the Grand Golden Arena for Best Film at the Croatian Pula Film Festival this weekend. The jury was presided over by Cristi Puiu.

The two films competed in the Official Selection which also included "Jupiter`s Moon", Ana, mon amour, "Lucky", "Redoubtable", "Spoor", and "A Gentle Creature", while "Loveless", Requiem for Mrs.J and "On Body and Soul" screened out of competition. All the films were eligible for the Audience Award, which went to Ildiko Enyedi`s Berlinale winner.

In the Parallels and Encounters programme, the Critics Jury gave the Best Film award to Quit Staring at My Plate by Hana Jusic - who also won Best Director at Pula - and a special mention to The "Last Family" by Polish filmmaker Jan P. Matuszyński.

Other features of the festival included the traditional New Hungarian Film section, Croatia in Focus, Eco Dox, and Young Spirit of Europe, which saw the international premiere of Cannes ACID French title "The Starry Sky Above Me" by Ilan Klipper.

The honorary Aleksandar Lifka Award for an outstanding contribution to European film was given to British Oscar and BAFTA-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton, and legendary Serbian actor Slavko Stimac.

The Underground Spirit Award was given to French experimental filmmaker Bertrand Mandico for exceptional work in the field of independent film.

Source: Cineuropa