This year marks the twenty-eighth edition of the Palić European Film Festival. The festival starts on July 17th and will last until July 23rd in Palić and Subotica, organized by the Open University of Subotica. This year, the festival is being held at several locations, including the unique Summer Stage in Palić, as well as the Eurocinema, Abazija and Lifka cinemas.
The Mauritanian, directed by Kevin Macdonald, starring the two-time Oscar winner Jody Foster will open the main competition program of the European Film Festival Palić . The celebrated actress is in the role of Nancy Hollander, a lawyer who takes over the case of Mohamed Ould Slahi (Tahar Rahim), a Mauritanian who is accused of hiring terrorists who crashed planes into the towers of the World Trade Center on September 11th. The script is an adaptation of Slahi’s “Guantanamo Diary” published in 2015.
Impure Blood: Ancestral Sin directed by Milutin Petrović will have its world premiere on July 22nd. This film will be screened in the Main Competition Program of the festival, where it will be in the Golden Tower competition for the best film, the Palić Tower for the best director, as well as for the Special Jury Award. The film follows the story of Haji-Trifun, a prominent Serbian merchant who tries to keep the peace with the Turkish authorities, but also maintains his reputation and influence in Vranje, an important Turkish town near the border with liberated Serbia.
During the central part of the event, the audience will hava a chance to see more than 100 films from all over Europe, in 11 different selections and program units. Many of the films will have their Serbian and regional premiere in Palić. In addition to the rich film program, the audience will be able to enjoy a number of side event – concerts, exhibitions, promotions, workshops and professional lectures.
The winners of this year’s “Alexander Lifka” awards for outstanding contribution to European cinema are actor Aleksandar Berček in the category of domestic creators and director Christian Petzold in the category of foreign creators. Slovenian actress Milena Zupančić is the first laureate of the honorary “Lifke” for her contribution to regional cinema, and the winner of the “Underground Spirit” award is the Romanian producer Ada Solomon.
This year, for the first time, a workshop of the festival network MIOB (“Moving Images Open Borders”) for bloggers, vloggers and influencers will be organized in Palić. In this way, FEF follows the modern trends in the media coverage of the festival, at the same time addressing the young audience, which is just getting acquainted with the breadth and richness of European auteur film. The film criticism workshop will be led by Neil Young, selector of the “Parallels and Collisions” and “Young Spirit of Europe” programs at the festival, and Bora Andjelić, doyen of film criticism in Serbia and former artistic director of FEST.
When it comes to the festival film program, the competition film selections this year bring the latest European titles in the Main Competition Program, as well as the most engaging Eastern European films in the selection Parallels and Collisions. Last year, the selection New European Documentary was introduced with great success, which brings the best documentaries, a film form that is attracting more and more attention from the public and critics.
As in previous years, the New Hungarian Film selection brings the latest production from this neighboring country, while the Young Spirit of Europe selection is intended for short and experimental film forms. Every year, FEF Palić presents the film production of one European country within the selection Cinematography in Focus, when films of the most interesting authors from that country are shown – this year’s selection will be dedicated to films from Slovenia.
Also, a homage to the winner of the Underground Spirit Award is being held in honor of the winner of this recognition, which the Festival awards for its contribution to independent film. The decade-long selection is also Eco dox, a program based on documentaries dedicated to the challenges of environmental protection.
During the festival, a selection of films from the Vilmos Szigmond Festival in Szeged will be shown, as well as a selection of EFA Shorts, which consists of short films nominated for the European Film Academy Award.