A flurry of quality European titles for the jubilee edition of Palić
- Alice Rohrwacher's Cannes-awarded Happy as Lazzaro will open the 25th edition of the European Film Festival Palić tomorrow
As the 25th jubilee edition of the Subotica-based European Film Festival Palić (14-20 July) revs its engines, its director, Radoslav Zelenović, is hoping that this year’s iteration will be remembered as a meeting point for the most significant current European films. The opening and closing movies (both screening out of competition) – respectively Alice Rohrwacher's Happy as Lazzaro [+see also:
film review
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interview: Alice Rohrwacher
film profile], winner of the Best Script Award at Cannes, and Romanian director Adina Pintilie's Touch Me Not [+see also:
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interview: Adina Pintilie
film profile], this year’s Golden Bear winner – certainly reflect that intention.
The official competition includes 12 high-quality titles, some of which were previously selected at A-list festivals: Wolfgang Fischer's Styx [+see also:
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interview: Wolfgang Fischer
film profile]; the multi-award-winning Un Certain Regard title Girl [+see also:
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interview: Lukas Dhont
film profile] by Belgian director Lukas Dhont; a film from Belarus, the USA, Germany and Russia, Darya Zhuk's Crystal Swan [+see also:
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interview: Darya Zhuk
film profile]; Axel Petersén and Måns Månsson's Berlinale title The Real Estate [+see also:
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interview: Axel Petersén and Måns Måns…
film profile] (Sweden/UK); Vladimir Blazevski's Year of the Monkey [+see also:
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interview: Vladimir Blazevski
film profile] (Macedonia/Serbia/Slovenia/Kosovo); Spaniard Arantxa Echevarría's Carmen & Lola [+see also:
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interview: Arantxa Echevarría
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interview: Stéphane Brizé
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interview: Ali Abbasi
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interview: Erik Poppe
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interview: Rasmus Kloster Bro
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interview: Árpád Bogdán, Andrea Taschler
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interview: Christian Petzold
interview: Franz Rogowski
film profile]. The international jury consists of Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi, French actor Ibrahim Coma, Lithuanian producer Ieva Norvilienė, Dutch director Marinus Groothof and Serbian actress Nataša Ninković, and there is also a FIPRESCI jury.
The Creative Europe-supported festival will present more than 100 films spread across 12 programmes. One novelty this year is that Parallels and Encounters, judged by a FEDEORA jury, includes two documentaries. EFF Palić programme director Miroslav Mogorović, who curated the section with Neil Young, particularly singles out Radu Jude's The Dead Nation [+see also:
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film profile], the multi-award-winning Georgian-Estonian title Scary Mother [+see also:
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interview: Ana Urushadze
film profile] by Ana Urushadze, and Hungarian director László Csuja's Blossom Valley [+see also:
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interview: László Csuja
film profile], which won an award last week at Karlovy Vary. In the Young Spirit of Europe section, the public will become acquainted with the works of "brave and inventive authors of unique poetics and attitudes towards film".
As always, Hungary has its own special section as a neighbouring country, while the Country in Focus programme, dedicated to the Black Sea nations, includes titles from Bulgaria, Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan. Eco Dox will present six environmental documentaries, accompanied by debates and a scientific conference involving key environmental experts and activists.
Two homage sections will be dedicated to previous winners of the Aleksandar Lifka Award and to past laureates of the Underground Spirit Award. Finally, the five latest winners of the EFF Palić Golden Tower will get open-air screenings in one of Serbia's most beautiful squares.
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