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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alice Rohrwacher
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interview : Adina Pintilie
fiche film], 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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Wolfgang Fischer
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interview : Lukas Dhont
fiche film] by Belgian director Lukas Dhont; a film from Belarus, the USA, Germany and Russia, Darya Zhuk's Crystal Swan [+lire aussi :
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interview : Darya Zhuk
fiche film]; Axel Petersén and Måns Månsson's Berlinale title The Real Estate [+lire aussi :
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interview : Axel Petersén et Måns Måns…
fiche film] (Sweden/UK); Vladimir Blazevski's Year of the Monkey [+lire aussi :
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interview : Vladimir Blazevski
fiche film] (Macedonia/Serbia/Slovenia/Kosovo); Spaniard Arantxa Echevarría's Carmen & Lola [+lire aussi :
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interview : Arantxa Echevarría
fiche film]; Stéphane Brizé's Cannes-premiered At War [+lire aussi :
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interview : Stéphane Brizé
fiche film]; Ali Abbasi's much-lauded Border [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ali Abbasi
fiche film] (Denmark/Sweden); Erik Poppe's account of the Utoya tragedy U-July 22 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Erik Poppe
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interview : Rasmus Kloster Bro
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interview : Árpád Bogdán, Andrea Tasch…
fiche film]; and acclaimed German filmmaker Christian Petzold's latest effort, Transit [+lire aussi :
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interview : Christian Petzold
interview : Franz Rogowski
fiche film]. 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 [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], the multi-award-winning Georgian-Estonian title Scary Mother [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ana Urushadze
fiche film] by Ana Urushadze, and Hungarian director László Csuja's Blossom Valley [+lire aussi :
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interview : László Csuja
fiche film], 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.