For the second year on a row, the Official Selection of ten films competing for this year’s LUX Prize of the European Parliament was unveiled during the 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) in Czech Republic. The selection reflects the excellence and rich variety of contemporary European cinema which European Parliament is proud to support.
The first meeting of the LUX Prize 2012 Selection Panel took place on March 22 within the European Parliament in Brussels. French director Radu Mihaileanu (The Source) heads the LUX Prize’s selection panel this year.
Beside him are Fatima Djoumer (Europa Cinemas), French producer Marc Bordure, the former director of the Gijón Film Festival José Luis Cienfuegos, the co-director of the European Film Market at the Berlinale Catherine Buresi, Greek film critic Michel Demopoulos, Belgian film distributor Stéphane de Potter (Cinéart), director of the European Film Academy Marion Döring, Polish distributor Jakub Duszynski (Gutek Films), the head of the education department at the Swedish Film Institute Per Ericsson, German screenwriter and critic Paul Peter Huth, the editor of the British magazine Sight & Sound Nick James, the secretary general of the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes Christophe Leparc, the artistic director of the Karlovy Vary Festival Karel Och, Italian distributor Georgette Ranucci (Lucky Red), the director of the Sofia Film Festival Mira Staleva, and Hungarian audiovisual sector expert Éva Vezer.
Every year the LUX Prize covers the cost of subtitles for the winning film in the 23 official languages of the European Union, including an adaptation of the original version for people with hearing and seeing disabilities, and provides a digital or 35 mm copy for each of the EU’s 27 member states.
The previous winners are The Edge of Heaven (2007) by Fatih Akin, Lorna’s Silence (2008) by Jean-Pierre y Luc Dardenne, Welcome (2009) by Philippe Lioret, When We Leave (2010) by Feo Aladag, and The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2011) by Robert Guédiguian.