Cinema is one of the most powerful cultural ‘vehicles’. It reminds us of people, places, events and moments in our lives. It moves and inspires us. It enriches the debate and even provokes it. It is a source of emotions; it also provides reflections on us and our identity. Most European films are only released in the country where they have been made and are rarely distributed across borders. The contrast is even bigger when we realise that more than 60 % of films released in European cinemas are European, but they are only watched by one third of the cinema audiences. In order to remedy this, the European Parliament created the LUX FILM PRIZE in 2007.
The prize pursues two main goals: to popularise original European film production in EU member states and to attract public attention to the European Union. Motion pictures produced in any EU member state as well as in Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland or Iceland are eligible to take part in the annual competition. The selection panel, comprising renowned European film professionals, selects three finalists and the films are then projected in the EP. The winning picture is voted on by all members of the EP, subsequently subtitled in 24 official EU languages and released in all 28 EU member states. Thanks to the LUX PRIZE, European cinema audiences had the possibility to see high-quality movies such as Lorna’s Silence, Shun Li and the Poet, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Ida, Mustang, Toni Erdmann, or Sami Blood which won the award last year.
Since 2012 these films have been screened as part of the Bratislava International Film Festival and its cooperation with the Information Office of the European Parliament in Slovakia. The audience will see three out of ten films from the official selection, which were nominated for the 2018 LUX Prize: Girl, The Other Side of Everything and Styx.
