The LUX Prize and the LUX Film Days

Currently, the LUX Film Days 2014 are being organized all over Europe and citizens write to the Parliament asking for information on the award, the films and the selection process.

The LUX Prize is a cinema prize awarded by the European Parliament every year since 2007. For this 2014 edition, the three films in competition are:

• Class Enemy (Razredni Sovražnik), by Rok Biček – Slovenia,

• Girlhood (Bande de Filles), by Céline Sciamma – France,

• Ida, by Pawel Pawlikowski – Poland, Denmark.

LUX prize objectives

The LUX Prize pursues two main objectives: firstly, spotlighting the public debate on the European Union and its policies such as immigration, integration, poverty and violence against women, and secondly supporting circulation of European (co)productions within the Union. The LUX Prize aims at overcoming the language and distribution barriers for European movies. Out of the 10 films initially selected, 3 go into competition, and 1 is awarded the Prize.

Selection of movies

The choice of the movies is made by a 16 person panel that includes producers, distributors, cinema operators, festival directors and film critics. These panel members are appointed by the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education. Moreover, the European Commission (CREATIVE EUROPE-MEDIA programme) and the Fund Eurimages of the Council of Europe sit as observers.

The films for the LUX Prize Competition are proposed by the Selection Panel. They can be also submitted by Members of the European Parliament and through own-initiative submissions by cinema professionals. More information is available on the selection process webpage.

LUX Film Days

For the LUX Film Days, organised in the framework of the LUX Prize, the 3 films in competition are subtitled in the 24 official EU languages. The three movies will travel across the whole of Europe from mid-October to December 2014 in order to be screened in more than 40 cities and 18 festivals allowing a large number of Europeans to discover or re-watch these movies.

LUX Prize Award

The LUX Prize Award additionally consists in adapting the original language version(s) of the winning film for the visually or hearing impaired, in a specific tailored promotion during national releases, and in the quality label “LUX Prize Winner”.

The winner of the 2014 Lux Prize, which is selected by MEPs, and receives votes from the public as well, will be presented with the prize during the plenary session of the EP in Strasbourg on 17 December in the presence of the three directors.

The 2013 LUX Prize was awarded to “The Broken Circle Breakdown” by Belgian director, Felix van Groeningen.

The LUX Prize webpage is available for further information on this award.