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Competition Program of the 32nd European Film Festival Palić

10.07.2025.

The 32nd European Film Festival Palić will take place from July 19 to 23, 2025, in Palić and Subotica. This year’s festival will present more than 140 films across 16 different sections.

The official opening of the film program will be held on Saturday, July 19, at 9 p.m. at the Palić Summer Stage, featuring the world premiere of “Pearlescent Fog” by the recently deceased director Milorad Milinković. The film will be screened out of competition, as part of the Official Selection.

Set in 1882, the film follows Jelena Ilka Marković, who attempted to assassinate King Milan Obrenović in St. Michael's Cathedral in Belgrade. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was found dead in her cell shortly afterward – the official version claims that she hanged herself with a towel. However, evidence suggests the suicide was not possible. Seven years later, on the same day, two more bodies are discovered – one, a murdered girl found by fishermen on the banks of the Sava River; the other, the body of Prince Miloš’s great-grandson in the Topčider Forest. The two deaths are revealed to be linked to the earlier assassination attempt. Years later, the case is reopened. A failed lawyer and the head of Belgrade’s police investigate Marković's death, each driven by personal motives, but in her case, the truth brings no comfort.

The screenplay was co-written by Milorad Milinković and Dragoljub Stojković. The cast includes Miloš Timotijević, Petar Strugar, Jana Ivanović, Nebojša Dugalić, Voja Brajović, Luka Grbić, Miona Marković, Jelena Ilić, and Mariana Aranđelović.

The Official Selection of this year's festival also features: “Two Prosecutors” by Ukrainian director and screenwriter Sergei Loznitsa, recipient of this year’s Aleksandar Lifka Award in the foreign creators category; "Dreaming of Lions" (Portugal) by Paolo Marinou-Blanco; "Growing Down" (Hungary) by Bálint Dániel Sós; "Reflection in a Dead Diamond" (Belgium) by directing duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani; "100 Liters of Gold" (Finland) by Teemu Nikki; "Mirrors No. 3" (Germany) by Christian Petzold; " Little Trouble Girls" (Slovenia) by Urška Đukić; "Quiet Life" (Greece) by Alexandros Avranas; and "Out of Control" (France) by Anne Le Ny. All films from this selection will be screened at the Palić Summer Stage.

“Two Prosecutors”, by Sergei Loznitsa, will be screened on Sunday, July 20, at 9 p.m. The film is a historical drama based on the novella by Georgy Demidov and follows a young Soviet prosecutor seeking justice for a prisoner during Stalin’s Great Purge. The film had its world premiere in the official selection of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, where it received the François Chalais Prize.

The festival will close on July 23 at 9 p.m. with the out-of-competition screening of the documentary "Echoes of the Plains" by Maja Uzelac. This film is a journey through people, time and landscapes – across the Vojvodina plains, deserted farmsteads, Hungarian estates, and the cities linked to Zvonko Bogdan: Sombor, Subotica, Novi Sad, Belgrade. Gradually and unexpectedly, the film moves through Bogdan’s songs and the era that now survives only in them. It portrays a vanishing age – defined by rituals captured in his music as symbols of the region’s iconography, bohemianism, and a slow-paced life that modern times are sweeping away.

The selector of the Official Selection is Nikolaj Nikitin, and the jury includes Nikola Joetze (Germany) – Project Manager of Berlinale Talents, Holly Daniel (Great Britain) – Director of the Industry Section of the Red Sea Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Zoran Amar (Serbia) – director and film pedagogue.

The Parallels and Encounters competition program will be screened at the Abazija Cinema and includes: “Lotus” (Lithuania) directed by Signe Birkova, “Confidante” (Turkey) by the director duo Çağla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti, “Toxic” (Lithuania) by Saulė Bliuvaitė, “Sandbag Dam” (Croatia) by Čejen Černić Čanak, “Comatogen” (Romania) by Igor Cobileanski, “Thus Spoke the Wind” (Armenia) by Maria Rigel, “Honeymoon” (Ukraine) by Zhanna Ozirna, “Restitution, or the Dream and Reality of the Old Guard“ (Serbia) by Želimir Žilnik, “The Black Hole” (Finland) by Moonika Siimets, and “Broken Voices” (Czech Republic) by Ondřej Provazník.

The program of Parallels and Encounters is curated by Julia Sinkevych, and its jury members are Peter Webber (Great Britain) – director, Bernd Buder (Germany) – program director of the Cottbus Film Festival, and Tomi Salkovski (North Macedonia) – producer.

The FIPRESCI jury, representing the International Federation of Film Critics, includes Davide Magnisi (Italy), Kata Gyürke (Hungary), and Leigh Singer (Great Britain).

The Aleksandar Lifka Awards for outstanding contribution to European cinema will also be presented at the 32nd edition of the European Film Festival Palić, and this year's recipients of the prestigious award are Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa in the category of foreign creators and actor Svetozar Cvetković in the category of domestic creators,

The European Film Festival Palić has been 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 29 years, Gorki List has proudly stood by the European Film Festival Palić as a long-term partner – an essential part of the festival’s visual identity and a supporter of the film art that inspires and connects. Through the Gorki List Audience Award, it encourages viewers to dive deeper into the stories and experiences on screen. Believing in the power of authentic expression and meaningful dialogue with the audience, Gorki List once again honors their voice by presenting this award for the best film. In doing so, it recognizes the audience not just as spectators but as vital allies in keeping cinema alive.