LUX Award: audiences and MEPs to choose the winning film

Source: European Parliament (EP) i, published on Monday, March 29 2021.

LUX Award, the European Parliament’s film prize, is undergoing major changes to bring even more European films to an even larger European audience.

The film award, created 13 years ago by the European Parliament to support the distribution of European films, is being made over. From now on, audiences will be directly involved in choosing the winner and the revamped LUX Award joins forces with the European Film Academy to reach a wider audience.

New voting, new branding, new partners, new calendar

To mark that change, the prize gets a new name: LUX European Audience Film Award . More films (five) will be subtitled in the 24 official EU languages. Exceptionally, this year, due to the impact of covid on the film industry, only three films will be in the running for the award.

“So far, the message of the LUX Prize was ‘The European Parliament is committed to culture’ and we can be proud of this achievement,” said Sabine Verheyen, chair of Parliament's culture committee, at the 77th Venice International Film Festival when unveiling the new prize. “From now on, we want to share our journey with new partners. We want to share our LUX Prize with more and more Europeans,” she said.

The full title of the LUX Award reflects the enhanced partnerships: LUX - the European Audience Film Award by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy - in partnership with the European Commission and Europa Cinemas.

LUX Award: the new screenplay

  • Autumn: selection panel of cinema professionals chooses the competing films that will be subtitled in 24 official EU languages
  • 12 December: the three films nominated will be announced at the European Film Awards ceremony in Berlin
  • December 2020 - 23 May 2021: people across Europe can watch the nominated films at screenings or online
  • Members of the public and MEPs have until 23 May 2021 to vote on www.luxaward.eu, each with a 50% share of the vote
  • 9 June 2021: winner announced during the award ceremony in the European Parliament

What stays the same?

The LUX prize has garnered a reputation by selecting European co-productions that engage with topical political and social issues and encourage debate about our values. This focus should stay. The prize will continue to make films accessible to larger audiences by subtitling the films in competition.

Last but not least, the red carpet for the directors and actors will be rolled out again in the European Parliament, as the award ceremony will continue to take place during a plenary sessio at the Parliament. Only the timing changes: instead of in November the prize will be awarded in April.

Proud to support cinema

“We’re proud to be the only Parliament in the world that gives a cinema prize,” said Parliament President David Sassoli in a video message during the launch in Venice. The new prize is a step forward in supporting the work of the artists and European productions that were hard hit by the corona crisis, he said. European Culture Commissioner Mariya Gabriel emphasised the diversity of European cinema that the LUX Prize showcased with the 130 films of the previous editions.

Read more about what the EU has done to support the cultural sector hit by Covid-19.

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