The award is run by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy to celebrate diverse European filmmaking.
ADVERTISEMENTThe winner of the LUX Audience Award 2023 will be announced later tonight from a shortlist that includes Ruben Östlund’s Palme D’Or winning Triangle of Sadness and Portuguese musical romcom Will-o’-the-Wisp.
The European Audience Film Award, better known as the LUX Audience Award after the Latin word for “light”, is an annual prize organised by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy, intended to promote cultural diversity in European cinema.
First awarded as the People's Choice Award for Best European Film to The Full Monty in 1997, the award has been transformed multiple times over the years — first as the Jameson Award between 2002 and 2005, before it was renamed as the LUX Prize in 2007.
The Lux Prize ran from 2007 to 2019, honouring achievements in European film with its final winner as North Macedonian film God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunija. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the award was rebranded as the LUX Audience Film Award with a more streamlined nomination process.
The nominated films are subtitled in the 24 official EU languages and free screenings were organised by the European Parliament in all 27 EU Member States during the ‘Watch, Rate and Win’ period, from 11 December 2022 until 12 June 2023.
The initiative gives the nominated films more visibility and helps them to cross borders and reach a wider audience. It allows audiences from across the European Union, and beyond, to watch films that may not have otherwise been screened in their countries.
This year’s nominees are:
- Alcarràs, by Spanish director Carla Simón;
- Burning Days, by Turkish director Emin Alper;
- Close, by Belgian director Lukas Dhont;
- Triangle of Sadness, by Swedish director Ruben Östlund;
- Will-o'-the-Wisp, by Portuguese director João Pedro Rodrigues.
Nearly 45,000 rated the five nominees to find a winner. The LUX Audience Award will be announced on 27 June in the plenary room of the European Parliament in Brussels at 18:00 CEST in a livestream here.
