Audience award
20.07.2026.
33rd European Film Festival Palić – Day 4
Screenings of "China Sea" by Jurgis Matulevičius and “Elena’s Shift” by Stefanos Tsivopoulos on Day Four of the European Film Festival Palić
On the fourth day of the festival, Tuesday, July 21, the Summer Stage in Palić will feature films from the Official Selection program, starting at 9 p.m. with "China Sea" by Jurgis Matulevičius (Lithuania), followed by “Elena’s Shift” by Stefanos Tsivopoulos (Greece) at 11 p.m.
In “China Sea” martial arts champion Osvald (33) accidentally injures a girl on the street and is expelled from the sports federation. Unable to travel and participate in tournaments in Asia, where he is famous, Osvald is forced to stay in his desolate home town in East Europe, tormented by guilt. He spends his days in a cheap Asian restaurant “China Sea” owned by his only remaining friend, a Taiwanese immigrant Ju-Long.
“Elena’s Shift” is set in Athens in 2013. Elena, a Romanian migrant and single mother, dreams of building a stable life for herself and her young son. When she loses her job, Elena meets Yota, a young lawyer who helps her navigate the uncertainty that follows. As the two women grow closer and their connection gradually deepens into love, Elena begins to imagine a future shaped not only by survival, but by love, dignity, and belonging.
The Parallels and Encounters programme will present “Solomamma” by Janicke Askevold at 6 p.m., followed by “Chica Checa” by Šimon Holý at 8 p.m. at the Abazija Cinema in Palić.
Edith (40), the protagonist of “Solomamma,” is a curiosity-driven journalist who decides to embark on single motherhood by sperm donor. However, the challenges of solo parenting prove to be complicated, and she fears that she is not enough for her son. When the identity of the donor unexpectedly surfaces, Edith decides to seek him out under the false pretense of doing a feature interview of him and his tech company. Getting involved in his life without sharing the true nature of their connection shakes up not only her own life and emotions, but also those of everyone around her.
In “Chica Checa,” widowed Zdena lives a quiet life as a postwoman in a small Czech village. When her beloved son Lukas returns home from France to say goodbye to his dying grandmother, his determination to make her seemingly impossible wish come true leads him to reveal a secret that challenges the values of the village: his queer life in Paris and his drag queen alter ego, Chica Checa.
“The Beasts” by Živko Nikolić, in which this year's laureate Radoš Bajić plays one of the leading roles, will be screened at the Eurocinema at 3 p.m. as part of the Alexandar Lifka Award Laureate Homage programme. This 1977 Yugoslav film follows a group of isolated people on a small island during a stormy night. The arrival of a mysterious and beautiful woman becomes the catalyst for the release of dark passions and malice. As tensions mount, dignity gives way to instinct, and the characters reveal the "beasts" within.
As part of the Germany in Focus programme, the Next Generation Shorts Tiger 2024 selection, presented by German Films, will be screened at 5 p.m. in the "Mira Banjac" Hall of the Abazija Cinema in Palić. The programme block includes the short films "The Bard’s Curse" (Scarlett Unverricht), "Black Youth" (Isaac Martínez), "Don't Let Go" (Antonia Lindner), "Enjoy Your Meal" (Sofie Kienzle, Christian Manzke), "Good for Me" (Hannah Wolny), "The Hidden Dimension" (Ben Galster), "I May Always Ask Her Anything" (Silke Schönfeld), "It’s Just a Whole" (Bianca Scali), "Sensitive Content" (Narges Kalhor), "Superbuhei" (Josef Brandl) and "Weeding" (Amelie Vierbuchen, Franca Pape, Lea Sprenger).
In the New Hungarian Film section, “Romzsa Tódor” by Attila Bokor will be screened at the Eurocinema in Subotica at 7 p.m. 36-year-old Greek-Catholic Bishop Tódor Romzsa proclaimed the importance of faith as an indispensable part of life to the multiethnic population of Transcarpathia. Since he was unwilling to renounce his faith, he paid with his life. In 1947, on the orders of Khrushchev, he was poisoned.
In the Eco Dox programme, two films will be screened at 5 p.m. at the Lifka Art Cinema in Subotica: “Animal Species” (Tara Radusinović, Milica Smiljković), in which veterinarian Igor Rabat fights to preserve indigenous animal breeds and local heritage on the slopes of Mount Rožanj; and “Resilience” by Tomáš Elšík, in which Pavel and Klara live on the frontlines of a world unraveling. The environment’s fading diversity casts a heavy shadow over their lives – but they refuse to stand by.
In the New European Documentary Film programme, “Collapse” by Anat Even will be screened at 7 p.m. at the Lifka Art Cinema in Subotica. Shortly after October 7th 2023, Anat returns to what was once her home, wandering for over two years through a burned-down kibbutz and agricultural lands turned into fields of machines of destruction. Beyond the fence, Gaza is annihilated.
As part of the guest festival section presented by the Skopje Film Festival, "Housekeeping for Beginners" by Igor Ivanov will be screened at the Eurocinema at 5 p.m.
As part of the Her Lens programme, a selection of short films will be screened in a program block that starts at 7 p.m. in the "Mira Banjac" Hall of the Abazija Cinema: "wedLOCK tradWIFE" (Gabriele Neudecker, Austria), "Desert, She" (Ioanna Digenaki, Greece), "Wish You Were Ear" (Mirjana Balogh, Hungary), "Eraserhead in a Knitted Shopping Bag" (Lili Koss, Bulgaria), "Henry is a Girl Who Likes to Sleep" (Marthe Peters, Belgium), and "Stiina" (Elisabeth Kužovnik, Estonia). Following the screenings, the European Film Festival Palić will proudly present the Laboratory's annual European study on the representation of female directors during a panel discussion featuring the head of the Laboratory, Fabienne Silvestre, along with other film professionals.
In the Young Spirit of Europe programme, beginning at 10 p.m. at the Abazija Cinema, audiences will be able to see the short films "Happy Day of the Dead" (Luka Štigl, Slovenia), "Permanent Life" (Greta Griniūtė, Spain), "Balconada" (Iva Tokmakchieva, Bulgaria), "Glimpse" (Ulrike Swoboda-Ostermann), and "Coldness" (Lena Jaworska, Poland).
The Special Screenings programme will include “Restart” (Duman Erkimbek, Kazakhstan), which will be screened at 4 p.m. at the Abazija Cinema.
The promotion of the book Serbian Cinema: The Sixties by Saša Radojević will be held at the Grand Terrace in Palić.
Tickets for the Official Selection programme are priced at 400 dinars for a one-day pass covering two films, while tickets for the Parallels and Encounters programme cost 300 dinars. Tickets can be purchased starting half an hour before the screening starts.
Admission to all other festival screenings is free!
The European Film Festival Palić is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the Provincial Secretariat for Culture, Public Information and Relations with Religious Communities, the City of Subotica, the European Union through the Creative Europe MEDIA program, as well as numerous partners and media sponsors.
For more than two decades, Gorki List has been a valued partner of the European Film Festival Palić, serving both as an integral part of its visual identity and as the sponsor of the Gorki List Audience Award, which encourages audiences to engage more deeply with the films presented at the festival.
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