palance, at the time chairman of the hollywood trident foundation, walked out of a russian film festival in hollywood in 2004. after being introduced, palance said, "i feel like i walked into the wrong room by mistake. i think that russian film is interesting, but i have nothing to do with russia or russian film. my parents were born in ukraine: i'm ukrainian. i'm not russian. so, excuse me, but i don't belong here. it's best if we leave." palance was awarded the title of "people's artist" by vladimir putin, president of russia; however, palance refused the title.