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Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 33rd European Film Festival Palić

17.07.2026.

The 33rd edition of the European Film Festival Palić will officially open at the Summer Stage in Palić on Saturday, July 18, at 9 p.m. During the opening ceremony, the Aleksandar Lifka Award for Outstanding Contribution to European Cinema will be presented to Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó in the category of international filmmakers.

Following the ceremony, the Official Selection programme will open with “Oh, This Unspeakable Void“ by director Simon Verhoeven (Germany). The film follows Joachim as he navigates the bizarre challenges of acting school and the eccentric rituals of his hosts, all while trying to find his place in the world. "The Good Daughter" by Júlia de Paz Solvas (Spain), which follows three generations of women as they confront reality and make decisions about their future, will also be screened in the Official Selection on the same evening at 11:45 p.m at the Summer Stage in Palić.

In the Parallels and Encounters competition programme, "Ungrateful Beings" by Olmo Omerzu will be screened at the Abazija Cinema at 6 p.m. Programmes in the festival’s other sections will also begin on Saturday, July 18, with screenings at several festival venues.

This year’s Official Selection also features: "Echoes of Saint George" by Jelena Bajić Jočić (Serbia), "Elena’s Shift" by Stefanos Tsivopoulos (Greece), “Feels Like Home” by Gábor Holtai (Hungary), “China Sea” by Jurgis Matulevičius (Lithuania), “Mo Papa” by Eeva Mägi (Estonia), "The Miserable Mother" by Susanne Heinrich (Germany), and "Nino in Paradise" by Laurent Micheli (Belgium). All films in this programme will be screened at the Summer Stage in Palić.

The Parallels and Encounters competition programme will include seven additional films: “Chica Checa” by Šimon Holý (Czech Republic), “To the Victory!” by Valentyn Vasyanovych (Ukraine), “Milk Teeth” by Mihai Mincan (Romania), “Black Money for White Nights” by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov (Bulgaria), “Tell Me What You Feel” by Łukasz Ronduda (Poland), “Solomamma” by Janicke Askevold (Norway), and “Ulya” by Viesturs Kairišs (Latvia). These films will be screened at the Abazija Cinema in Palić.

Throughout the festival, films will also be screened in a variety of sections: Young Spirit of Europe, New Hungarian Film, Germany in Focus, New European Documentary Film, Eco Dox, Underground Spirit Award Laureate Homage, Aleksandar Lifka Award Laureate Homage, EFA Shorts, a selection from the Zsigmond Vilmos Film Festival, the Her Lens programme, two guest festival sections presented by the Gornji Milanovac Film Festival and the Skopje Film Festival, as well as several special screenings.

MIOB Lab – the fifth edition of the Laboratory for Cultural, Creative and Festival Journalism – will take place within the European festival network Moving Images - Open Borders (MIOB), of which the European Film Festival Palić is a long-standing member. This year, the Laboratory is being implemented in cooperation with Cineuropa, one of Europe’s leading film portals. The five-day programme offers a unique opportunity for young journalists to participate in a European film festival under the mentorship of experienced film critics. During the Lab, participants will be report on festival activities, interview participating filmmakers, and publish their articles on the MIOB and festival websites. Thanks to the collaboration with Cineuropa, young journalists will also have the opportunity to write reviews, articles, and reports about the films screened and the festival experience, with the most outstanding contribution, selected by the committee, to be published on Cineuropa as recognition of the author’s talent and commitment.

Another MIOB programme is the Le Lab Femmes de Cinéma, a think tank dedicated to promoting gender parity and representation in European cinema through a range of initiatives. Members of the MIOB network contributed to the study, and the European Film Festival Palić will proudly present the Lab’s annual Europe-wide study on the representation of female directors during a panel discussion featuring the Lab’s head, Fabienne Silvestre, along with other female film professionals.

During the festival, two book promotions will be held in Palić: the monograph "It Was Worth It" by Jovanka Simić, dedicated to Gordana Đurđević Dimić, principal actress of the Drama Ensemble of the Serbian National Theater, and "Serbian Cinema: The Sixties" by Saša Radojević. Visitors will also be able to view the exhibition "Slobodan Cica Perović" in the hall of the Open University of Subotica, marking the centenary of the birth of this great Serbian and Yugoslav actor.

Every evening from 11 p.m., audiences and festival guests will be able to enjoy festival parties in the courtyard of the Abazija Cinema, featuring a diverse programme of music and DJ performances.

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, Gorky 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 Gorky List Audience Award, which encourages audiences to engage more deeply with the films presented at the festival.

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