This year, the thirtieth edition of the Palić European Film Festival, takes place in the traditional Festival period, from July 15 to 21 in Palić and Subotica, organized by the Open University Subotica. This year, the Festival is held in several locations, including the unique Summer Stage in Palić, as well as the Eurocinema, Abazija and Lifka cinema theatres
At the press conference on the occasion of the Festival were announced the laureates of this year’s Aleksandar Lifka Awards for outstanding contribution to European cinema – actor Bogdan Diklić in the category of domestic creators and director Andreas Dresen in the category of foreign creators. This year’s laureate of the Regional Lifka is actor Nikola Ristanovski from North Macedonia. At the press conference was presented the program of two competitive selections – the main competitive program Official Selection and the Parallels and Collisions competitive program.
Actor Bogdan Diklić (Bjelovar, 1953) played more than 150 roles on film and television. He became famous for his roles in a number of Yugoslav films, as well as films from the countries created by the breakup of the SFRY. He made his film debut in 1976 in the films Maiden Bridge and Soldier’s Love, and continued with roles in Fragrance of Wild Flowers by Srđan Karanović and National Class Category Up to 785 Ccm (1979) by Goran Marković, and played in almost all Marković’s films. We saw his acting creations in the productions: All That Jack’s (1980), Variola vera (1982), Marathon Family (1982), Miracle Unseen (1984), Oktoberfest (1987), The Meeting Point (1989), Three Tickets to Hollywood (1993), Barking at the Stars (1998), Cabaret Balkan (1999), A Small World (2003)… On television, he acted in the series: Grlom u Jagode (1976), Open Space (1985), Balkan Express (1989), The Open Door (1995), and others. He is the laureate of many awards and recognitions for his theater and film roles, and in 2009, Serbian Association of Film Artists awarded him Pavle Vuisić Award for overall contribution to film art.
Andreas Dresen was born in East Germany, in 1963. He comes from a theatre family and was shooting his first amateur films as early as 1979. In 1984/85, he worked as a sound engineer at Schwerin Theatre before completing a traineeship at the DEFA Studio for Feature Films and working as an assistant director to Günter Reisch. From 1986 to 1991, he studied directing at the Konrad Wolf Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Since 1992, he has been working as a freelance author and director. His debut film Silent Country (1992), a tragicomedy about events in East Germany at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, earned him both the Hessen Film and Cinema Prize and the German Critics’ Award. Followed a number of his award-winning films with the latest one Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W.Bush (2022) premiered in Berlinale Competition and also screened at EFF Palić Official Selection. He is a member of the Academy of Arts, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the European Film Academy and founding member of the German Film Academy.
Nikola Ristanovski was born in 1969 in Ostrava (Czechoslovakia). He lives in Macedonia since 1978. In 1993, he graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje in the class of Professor Vladimir Milčin. He played on most important stages in the region and performed many notable roles, the play Odysseus, A. Popovski, according to the text of G. Sefanovski, in the theater Ulysses from 2012 in which he plays the role of Singer, then the character of Moliere in the homonymous play by M. Bulgakov (A. Popovski) performed by the Macedonian National Theater, as well as the role of Leon in Glembaj’s (Miroslav Krleža) by Jagoš Marković in the production of Atelier 212. He has been the champion of the Macedonian National Theater since 1993 and is currently the champion of the National Theater in Belgrade. As for cinematography, he played in more than fifty films and series in the region and achieved many notable roles such as Hadzi Zamfir (Zona Zamfirova), Viktor Kolar (The Only Way Out), Dr. Viktor (On Therapy), Trendafilov (The Liberation of Skopje) … Ristanovski is the most awarded Macedonian actor, with a large number of awards received for performances produced outside the country, like Grand Prix for the best male role at the 18th International Actor’s Festival, Nikšić, Montenegro 2022, the Golden Dolphin for the best actor at the Bosphorus Film Festival in Istanbul (for the role in The Needle under the Threshold), Sterija’s Award for acting achievement, (Ahmed Nurudin – Dervish and Death) 2009, Actor of the Year in Macedonia, 2006, Golden Laurel Wreath, (Don Juan ), MESS Sarajevo, 2006…
Spanish multimedia artist María Cañas is the laureate of this year’s Underground Spirit award, assigned by the Palić European Film Festival for exceptional work in the field of independent film, as well as for a unique approach to film language and an authentic author’s poetics built off the mainstream industry.
The main competition program of this year’s Palić European Film Festival – Official Selection, consists of the following films: Afire by Christian Petzold, Seneca by Robert Schwentke, Inside by Vasilis Katsoupis, Three Thousand Numbered Pieces by Ádám Császi, The Land of Short Sentences by Hella Joof, Things Unsaid by Eleonora Veninova, Ingeborg Bachman – journey into the Dessert by Margarethe von Trotta, Club Zero by Jessica Hausner, The Old Oak by Ken Loach, Perfect Days by Wim Wenders, and Jeanne Du Barry by director Maiween.
The programmer of the Official Selection is Nikolaj Nikitin, and the jury consists of Tito Rodríguez, director of the European Film Festival in Seville; Nana Janelidze – screenwriter and director; Milorad Milinković – screenwriter and director; Eran Kolirin – screenwriter and director; and Daniela Weber, screenwriter, director, publicist and member of the Berlinale festival team.
The competitive selection of the Parallels and Encounters program presents following films: Slow by Maria Kavtaradze, Carbon by Ion Bors, Citizen Saint by Tinatin Kajrishvili, Cold as Marble by Asif Rustamov, Embryo Larva Butterfly by Kyros Papavassilou , Do you love me? Tonya Noyabryova, Bread and Salt by Damian Kocur, Ordinary Failures by Cristina Grosan, Power by Mátyás Prikler and Sisters by Linda Olte.
The programmer of Parallels and Encounters section is Julia Sinkevych, and the jury of this program consists of producer Ivana Marinić Kragić, and actress and director Bonnie Williams.
The FIPRESCI jury, the jury of the International Federation of Film Critics, of the 30th Palić European Film Festival consists of Renaud Baronian, Mike Naafs and Alejandra Trelles.
At the Festival, Association of Serbian Film Festivals Awards (AFIFS) will be assigned for the best films in the categories, judged by the critics of the Serbian section of FIPRESCI.
The supporting program of the Festival includes Young Critics Workshop, MIOB workshop for social media, Environmental panel discussion Consequences of The Use of Depleted Uranium Ammunition In NATO Aggression In 1999 – Inspiration for Filmmakers, exhibition Traces of a time – Film poster 1980-1989. exhibition Mija Aleksić – to Be an Actor – on the occasion of the centenary of this great actor’s birth, Palić European Film Festival posters exhibition From the 5th to the 30th , publications of the Festival, exhibition Festival Moments, Network of Serbian Cinema Screeners panel discussion, and book promotions.
At this year’s edition of the Festival, over 150 film professionals from the country and abroad are expected.
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 to explore the 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.
