Constructing Europe is also about supporting cultural diversity and the creative arts. At the moment when the European Union is celebrating its founding texts and is in the process of drafting an new treaty, the European Parliament has decided to create the LUX Prize (light). The objective of the LUX Prize is to illuminate the public debate on European integration and to facilitate the diffusion of European films in the European Union. The LUX Prize will finance the subtitling and the kinescope recording of the winning film in the 23 official EU languages. The original language recording will be adapted for sub-titling for hard of hearing and deaf people.
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The European Parliament is a champion and a symbol of cultural diversity. Its very make-up reflects Europes multiplicity of cultures and languages. With 785 seats, the European Parliament is the worlds largest international parliamentary body. It is also the most diverse: its Members represent the people of the European Unions 27 Member States; 23 languages are spoken in the Parliament, not to mention the regional and minority languages of the Union. The Parliament, whose legislative powers are steadily increasing, shares the Unions motto, ‘Unity in Diversity’. Intercultural dialogue and freedom of thought, which have inspired and underpinned the history of European cinema, are two of its most cherished causes.
Cinema at the heart of cultural exception
Cinema lies at the heart of the European cultural model. It is emblematic of the cultural exception dispute between the European Union and the United States. Cinema is also a medium that is accessible to a very large number of people of all ages. Marrying sound and image, it has always been a medium that appeals to the individual at an emotional rather than a cognitive level. At a time when text as a medium is at a crossroads, cinema is the ideal vehicle for communication or reflection on Europe and its future.
The aims of the LUX Prize
One of the main criteria in selecting the films short-listed for the LUX Prize has been their success in showing the process of building Europe in a different light. As the European Union works on a new treaty, the artistic and narrative quality of the winning film will give the audience a glimpse of a submerged dimension of the European venture the individual, perhaps the intimate, dimension.
Facilitating circulation of European films
Breaking through the language barrier that prevents films from moving around the European Union is the other major objective of the LUX Prize. It will give a powerful circulation boost to a cinematic work within the common market and will ultimately add to Europes cinematographic and cultural wealth.
