The LUX Prize turns 10

"For the tenth year in a row, the European Parliament will be assigning the LUX Prize to a film that embodies the ideal spirit and values of the E.U., thanks to the talent of an either emerging or well-established filmmaker. Here in Venice we're feting the three finalists for 2016, and in Brussels, in just over one month, on October 10, we'll be celebrating the tenth anniversary of this award, with some of the directors we have discovered and supported on hand for the occasion. We'll also be paying tribute to a master of cinema, Ken Loach, who will share with us his views on the ideal of a strong Europe, aware of its strengths." With these words the chair of the European Parliament Culture and Education Committee, Silvia Costa, greeted the young cinephiles gathered in Venice under the aegis of the project 28 Times Cinema, when she met with them together with the LUX Prize coordinator, Doris Pack.

"The real ambassadors for this prize and these ideals," Silvia Costa added, "will be you young people who have come to the oldest festival in the world to discover the cinema of the present, but starting tomorrow, enlisted by us to take part in LUX Days, to support the cinema of the future. It's no coincidence that the three films on this year's shortlist will be able to circulate in all 28 countries of the E.U. thanks to subtitles in its 24 different languages. This represents our commitment to promoting the circulation of our cultures and shared dreams as well."

The three films in the running for the 2016 Lux Prize are: As I Open My Eyes by Leyla Bouzid, My Life as a Courgette by Claude Barras, and Toni Erdmann by Maren Ade.

"The Culture Committee I have the honor of chairing," declared Silvia Costa, "also plays an important role in designing the strategies of the Creative Europe Programme, for whom I am a spokesperson. I can join Doris Pack in proudly announcing that, at a time when E.U. budgets tend to be shrinking, funds for the audiovisual industry are getting approved and are even increasing, just like educational funding for the Erasmus Programme, which is actually much more substantial than in the past. These are important signs of an awareness of the value of culture and education, upon which Europe's future growth depends."

In Venice, the 28 Times Cinema team, which also constitutes the Venice Days official jury (chaired by Canada's Bruce LaBruce this year), is undergoing daily training, with a full immersion in the hottest issues in the film industry today (thanks to a collaboration with Europa Cinemas, and the support of Cineuropa.org). The last few days they've been looking at the finalists for the LUX Prize and ways to promote these three films in their own countries.