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Parallels and Encounters and Young Spirit of Europe at 27th Palić

04.09.2020.

The 27^th Palić European Film Festival, which is being held this year from September 12 to 18 in Subotica and Palić, will present programs Parallels and Encounters with a focus on the cinema of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Young Spirit of Europe with films by contemporary, inventive authors whose works push the boundaries of film art. This year, the festival is held in the EuroCinema and the Lifka Art Cinema in Subotica, as well as in Abazija cinema in Palić. The audience will have a chance to see more than 100 films from all over Europe, in 15 different programs.

The programmers of Parallels and Encounters program, Neil Young and Miroslav Mogorović, selected 11 films for the competition program and 4 out of the competition. In the explanation of this year's selection, Young pointed out: "As usual we have tried to make the selection as wide-ranging as possible both in terms of geography and also in terms of theme, from experimental semi-documentary (FREM) to radical animation (KILL IT AND LEAVE THIS TOWN) to social-realist dramas and films with an exciting "genre" touch. As always with filmmaking from this part of the world, serious political issues are seldom far from the surface and often the directors trace the impact of recent historical events on the current era -- though in some instances we are plunged directly into past periods, invited to draw parallels between those epochs and current situations. We were particularly happy to find so many strong titles by female directors -- ranging from established names like Latvia's Laila Pakalniņa to relative newcomers such as Ukraine's Christina Sivolap -- expressing themselves in surprising and adventurous ways."

Miroslav Mogorović, the program director of the festival and co-programmer of this program, emphasized that this year's selection pays attention to new hopes and talents coming from the region behind the Iron Curtain. "That curtain fell in the economic sense long time ago, but the problems of the ordinary people still exist," Mogorović stressed, adding: "This year's selection is a continuation of what we have achieved with this program in the last few years, that we have competition program that is almost equal to the main competition program – Official Selection”.

The competition section of the Parallels and Encounters will screen DESPAIR by Latvian director Karlis Lesins, FELIX AUSTRIA by Ukrainian director Christina Sivolap, FOMO by Attila Hartung from Hungary, FREM by Slovak director Vera Chakaniova, KILL IT AND LEAVE THIS TOWN (Mariusz Wilczyński, Poland), Matriarch by Croatian director Jure Pavlović, PARTHENON by Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravičius, Austrian film ROYAL BLUE by Dinko Draganović, Serbian film TOMORROW IS STILL JULY directed by Dejan Vlaisavljević Nikt, THE FORGOTTEN by Daria Onishchenko from Ukraine, SERVANTS by Slovak director Ivan Ostrochovsky. Outside the competition, the same selection will show Laila Pakalnina's THE FIRST BRIDGE from Latvia, I AM FRANK by Slovenian director Metod Pevec, ROUNDS by Bulgarian director Stefan Komandarev and INSEPARABLE by Slovenian director Marko Nabersnik.

The program Young Spirit of Europe includes 37 short films of a wide range of styles and genres. Programmer Neil Young said about this year's program: “Like last year, Young Spirit of Europe comprises four "regular" programmes of eclectic shorts chosen by myself in consultation with EFF colleagues, alongside a "carte blanche" collaboration with an outstanding film-festival -- this time selected by our friends at "ZubrOFFka" of Białystok, Poland -- and of course the tribute-section to our Underground Spirit of Europe honoree, namely the acclaimed Italian editor and director Sara Fgaier. Young Spirit is a thrilling survey of the most ambitious cinematic work, operating on and beyond the established "margins" of the art-form, which encompasses artists' film, music-video and animation as well as fresh takes on the documentary and fiction formats. The short films showcased in Young Spirit of Europe can't be easily classified together in terms of content or theme, but do have in common a concision and economy which means that not a single frame is wasted.”

We remind you that Italian director and editor Sara Fgaier is laureate of this year's Underground Spirit Award, assigned by the European Film Festival Palić for exceptional work in the field of independent film, as well as for a unique approach to film language and authentic authorial poetics built off the film industry. Homage program dedicated to this author will be screened at the Palić European Film Festival. Neil Young also referred to her work: “Sara Fgaier's work is a great example of a superbly talented creative presence operating in a profession - editing - which too often gets overlooked in a media landscape which is so dominated by actors and directors, followed by screenplay writers and cinematographers. Winner of the European Film Award for her short film GLI ANNI, Sara Fgaier is renowned for her brilliant manipulation of archival materials, which in her hands transform the medium into a magical form of time-travel.” 

European Film Festival Palić was supported by the European Union through the Creative Europe MEDIA program, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the Provincial Secretary for Culture, Public Information and Relations with Religious Communities of Vojvodina, the City of Subotica, and numerous partners and media.

At the 27^th festival edition, the international jury of the Festival will award the Golden Tower for the Best Film and the Palić Tower for the Best Director. The critics’ jury will award prize for the Best Film in Parallels and Encounters program, along with the FIPRESCI Award for the Best Film.

Within the 27^th edition of the Festival the audience will have a chance to vote for films at the screening places and also at official web presentation of the Festival (https://www.palicfilmfestival.com/). By the Gorki List Award, the audience will for the fifth time take an active role in perceiving the film art presented at the Festival. This way, once again, in addition to the expert jury, the opinion of the most numerous will be respected, thanks to whose loyalty and dedication to the film, the Festival lasts all these years.

This year's European Film Festival Palić will be held in compliance with all measures of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Crisis Staff for the Suppression of the Infectious Disease Covid-19. The organizing team of the festival prioritizes the health and safety of the audience, as well as the guests and the festival team. The official protocol, with detailed instructions on measures during the Festival, will be adopted and published in a timely manner before the start of the event.