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Serbian films at the 30th Palić European Film Festival

11.07.2023.

At the 30th Palić European Film Festival, that takes place rom July 15 to 21 in Palić and Subotica, the program consisting of Official Selection, Parallels and Encounters, Young Spirit of Europe, New European Documentaries, Eco Dox and Special Screenings is going to present 8 films by Serbian authors.

In the Official Selection, off the competition program, on July 21 at 9:00 p.m. (after the Festival awards ceremony), the film "Safety First" directed by Pavle Vučković will be screened on the Summer Stage. This is a story about two young Belgrade couples who are trying to start a relationship in the time of corona. In their desire to be intimate, they encounter obstacles because they do not have the appropriate "protection", which motivates them to set off into the search. During the evening, they meet a hundred depraved characters, who stand in the way of their happiness.

In the "Parallels and Encounters" section, on July 21 at 5:00 p.m. in the Abazija Cinema, "The Penalty Kick and Sexual Life of Ana Đ" directed by Milica Stojanov and Ana Đorđević will be screened out of competition. The action of this film is set in the spring of 2020, when the corona virus pandemic broke out. Theatres stopped working. Rehearsals were suspended. Sadness, emptiness. ominous silence. However, director Ana received an offer to dramatize and direct The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, Peter Handke's masterpiece. It's a great challenge and a chance to jump-start a faltering career. The problem is that the creative process emotionally inhibits and blocks her sexuality, but with the persuasion of her best friend Sanja, Ana engages in the creative process.

The film "More than Living" by Aleksandra Lazarovski is on the program in the Young Spirit of Europe section, and will be screened on July 16 at 9 p.m. at Abazija Cinema. The film follows Boris a young man from Serbia who is leaving his country and beloved ones in order to illegally migrate to France, where he will work on construction sites. The day before departure, Boris is saying farewell to his village, but all the encounters will change the course of his departure.

As a special screening, on July 21 at 7 p.m., the film "Coma" directed by Petar Jakonić will be presented at the Abazija Cinema. The 1990s were the most turbulent period after World War II in these regions and produced many dramatic situations. Cities were destroyed, blood flowed, people died. "Coma" is an intimate story about a family in that period.

The documentary film "Invoked" by Luka Papić and Srđa Vučo will be shown in the Special Screenings program at the Abazija Cinema on July 16 at 3 p.m. This production is a political comedy with tragic consequences, which, looking at one of the strangest periods in Serbian political history, tells about four former presidential candidates, now misfit antiheroes, who recall their participation in the first multi-party elections in 1990 and relive that, for all of them, fateful event, not realizing that they are only playing secondary roles.

New European Documentary Film section, on July 19 at 7 p.m. in Aleksandar Lifka Art Cinema, presents the film "Mavena" by Andrija Lekić. In 2011 after traveling to tsunami stricken areas in Japan, living with migrants in Paris and exploring Accursed Mountains in Albania, the protagonist is coming back to his hometown in Montenegro, only to find out that his father has terminal illness. Four stories are filmed in Montenegro in eight-year period: Blood Feud and its repercussions; Sworn Virgin phenomena; love between a friend who overdosed and was left with severe brain damage and his sister who has been looking after him since; and witnessing the last days of his father due to terminal cancer. Through these stories and the people he connects with, the protagonist contemplates eternal questions: reality, truth, searching for home, memory and love.

Eco Dox section, on July 18 at 5 p.m. in Art cinema Aleksandar Lifka, presents Ana Konstantinović's film "The Ways of the Heroes", whose protagonists belong to different environments, professions, and generations, but what connects them is dedication and tenacity in contributing to environmental protection within their communities by taking simple steps and using their own skills. What they demonstrate is that change does not come exclusively through great sacrifice, but that there are many ways of making sustainability a part of everyday life. The omnibus brings together the stories and actions of 12 people from 6 European countries, showing that personal acts, no matter how small or invisible they seem at times, can make a significant impact.

The same section, starting at 5:45 p.m., presents the film "Small and Big" by Želimir Gvardiol. Twenty-three years after the bombing of Serbia in 1999 with depleted uranium and the destruction of chemical facilities by the NATO pact, the documentary film crew travels in search of survivors after the ecocide: the permanently polluted water, air and soil still poisoned.

The Palić European Film Festival is supported by the Film Center of Serbia, and as part of this cooperation, the AFIFS awards for the best Serbian film and the best Serbian minority co-production, according to Serbian film critics, will be awarded at the festival.

The Palić European Film Festival was 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 partners.

Gorky List has been a sponsor and friend of the Palić European Film Festival for more than 20 years, as an indispensable part of our artistic scenography, but also a partner that encourages the engagement of the audience in exploring their experiences of the presented film productions through the Gorky List Audience Award. This year, the traditional cooperation will once again be extended to the musical part of the Festival program.