Lux Prize for European Cinema

European Parliament LUX Prize
2007 logo. The trophy is inspired by-, and the underlying concept of the award is the Tower of Babel.
Awarded for	Excellence in illustrating the universality of European values and the diversity of European culture
Country	Countries eligible for the European Commission Media Programme
Presented by	European Parliament
First awarded	2007
Official website	www.luxprize.eu

The European Parliament LUX Prize is a prize given to a competing film by the European Parliament. Introduced in 2007, it is named after the unit of illuminance, "lux", which is Latin for "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.

Films to be selected have to meet following criteria:

For the first edition of the prize, three films were shortlisted by a 17-member panel composed mainly of people working in the cinematic professions who were appointed by the European Parliament's Culture and Education Committee. Each film is shown nine times within the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, in a 90-seat cinema room specially conceived and built for this purpose.

Panel members were:

Critics

Producer and distributor, Atalanta Filmes. Director, Estoril Film Festival

Deputy Director, European Film Academy

Exhibitor and distributor. Co-president, Natfilm International Film Festival.

Distributor, Cinéart-Cinélibre

Special advisor, ERT

Administrator, Europa Cinema

Distributor, Gutek Film

Director, Krems European Film Festival (EU XXL Film), and former Member of the European Parliament

Co-scriptwriter of Welcome

Deputy Director, Berlinale's European Film Market

Editor, British Film Institute’s critical magazine Sight & Sound

Secretary-General, Prix Europa

Exhibitor and distributor, Lucky Red

Programmer, Sofia International Film Festival

Delegate-General, Eurocinema

Critics

Only the 754 Members of the European Parliament, who have seen all three films during the screenings or extra muros, are entitled to vote. Voting takes place electronically via the intranet site at the Parliament. The film which gains the highest number of votes is the winner.

The producers of the ten shortlisted films are required to provide digital copies in the form of DVDs, Vimeo link, or OpenDCP for the members of the European Parliament. In 2015, the shortlisted Son of Saul was disqualified when the production team refused to provide this fearing from these copies being pirated.