On Tuesday 14 November, the European Parliament awarded this year’s Lux Film Prize to Sami Blood, a Swedish-Danish-Norwegian co-production.
This film was directed by Amanda Kernell and tells the story of a young Sami (Laplander) who dreams of a different life and leaves her community to pursue her goal and in so doing has to confront racist attitudes.
The Lux Film Prize is awarded every year by a jury consisting of MEPs. It seeks to promote European cinema and make films demonstrating great promise available to a broad public, as well as encourage debate on values and social issues throughout Europe.
The three shortlisted films were: 120 Battements par minute, Sámi Blood and Western. European Parliament VP, Evelyne Gebhardt (S&D, Germany) explained, “The winner was chosen by all MEPs. They had the possibility of seeing the films and voting, in the knowledge that every MEP had one vote”.
The three film finalists will be subtitled in the 24 official languages of the EU and distributed on the cinema screens of more than 50 cities and different film festivals in 28 EU countries during the Lux Film Days events. The winning film will be adapted for the visually impaired and hard of hearing and will benefit from international promotion and promotional support when it is released internationally.
During the award ceremony, Parliament President Antonio Tajani said, "The Lux Prize is at the forefront of promoting our fundamental values such as tolerance, solidarity and protection of diversity”. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)