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Programs New European Documentaries and Eco Dox at the 28th European Film Festival Palić

10.07.2021.

Program New European Documentaries, which brings the best documentaries from the European continent, as well as Eco Dox, program based on documentaries dedicated to the challenges of environmental protection, will be presented as parts of the 28th Palić European Film Festival, which takes place this year from 17 to 23 July in Palić and Subotica. The selector of both programs is Igor Toholj.

The section New European Documentaries presents Antigone - How Dare We! by Slovenian director Jani Sever, a kind of political essay on European democracy today; Fellinopolis by Italian director Silvia Giulietti, who reveals 40-year-old footage from the film sets of the legendary Federico Fellini; Latvian-Czech production Gorbachev. Heaven by Vitaliy Manskiy about one of the most famous politicians of the 20th century - Mikhail Gorbachev; Spanish film Interregno (by Fernando Gómez-Luna and César Souto Vilanova) which deals with a conversation between two people on different continents, at the time of the global pandemic; and A New Shift by Czech director Jindřich Andrš, about a miner who, after a coal mine closing, gets in the retraining process for a computer programmer. On this section Igor Toholj said: „ The authors of current European documentaries are very critical about today's Europe and warn - that the transition of Eastern European societies to neoliberal capitalism has taken on the character of a parody, that today's hybrid political systems and the characters in them do not look confident, and that the values we stick to require reinterpretation just like decoding ancient myths on which rests the understanding of European culture. Even the political cataclysms from 20th century, which some authors refer to, are obviously not enough to warn us and prepare us for the future. On the other hand, some authors offer an intimate, epistolary view of human communication during the pandemic lockdown, as a creative response or poetic therapy of the consequences made by the terrible shock that stroke humanity.“

The Eco Dox section presents Algorithmic Island by Georgian director Tekla Aslanishvili, Birds of America by French director Jacques Loeuille, Polish film Kovid-19: The World in Danger (directed by Jarosław Jabrzyk & Łukasz Ruciński), Living Water by Czech director Pavel Borecký, Lobster Soup by Spanish director Pepe Andreu, Metaplasm: The Vulture File by Nemanja Babić, Stublaja-Ordinary Miracle by Branko Lazić, Personal Life of a Hole by Czech director Ondřej Vavrečka, and Stolen Fish by Polish director Gosia Juszczak.

Igor Toholj explained his choice for the Eco Dox program: „ This year's selection of Eco Documentaries, by the nature of things, focuses on topics that testify to the long-disturbing attitude of the human population towards natural resources and the living world. Generally clear picture, whose content is increasingly interesting and captures the attention of European documentarians, is blurred by the Covid-19 pandemic, the theme of all themes at the moment. All parts of this year's program mosaic reflect a clear message and the idea that we do not have much time to raise awareness about current, very dramatic situation in the context of the environmental issues.”

Palić Film Festival was founded in 1992 and from the small and unpretentious Palić Film Evenings, through persistent attempts to create a serious regional festival in difficult times of isolation and the first attempts to connect the cinemas of the warring countries, it grew into an important point on the map of European film festivals. Since 2003, it has become European Film Festival Palić, turning to promotion of European authors and thus a gathering place for the most important artists who shape the cultural scene of Europe. The festival was visited, among others, by Nikita Mikhalkov, Ken Loach, Roy Andersson, Ken Russell, Brian Cox, Theo Angelopoulos, Christie Puyu, Jiri Menzl, as well as the biggest names of Serbian and Yugoslav cinema. EFF Palić is also the winner of the EFFE award (organized by the European Festival Association) for the best European art festival in 2017-18.

By choosing the best achievements of uncompromising contemporary European cinema, European Film Festival Palić proves, in accordance with the values it has been actively promoting for more than two decades, that every attempt to emancipate and renew critical consciousness makes deep sense.