statement

Strasbourg

VERHEYEN, Sabine (EPP, DE)

LUX European Audience Film Award 2023 (T)

LUX Audience Award 2023: statement by Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), Chair of the EP Committee on Culture and Education

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), The LUX film prize is for us very important prize, because with these movies, that are selected for the the final in the LUX film prize edition, we want to show European stories. We want to show the richness, the diversity of European movies. It is a symbol for the stories that are lived and told throughout Europe and it's a love for culture.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), Especially after COVID 19, the cinemas are suffering. People are not going back in that way they did before the COVID 19 pandemic. So the prize in this year has a special meaning also to bring people back to watch European movies, European stories, and to have showed their love for for the film.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), In December at the EFA event, they will show which movies they are. They will be launched. And some of them are already in the commercial screenings. But the time for elections, for the evaluating by the audience will start then after they are launched officially at the EFA, European Film Awards event.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), For the winner, we will have subtitling in all European languages, so that the movie can be shown everywhere in Europe and can be seen everywhere in Europe. That's a big support for this film, and it will also be transformed into an accessible format for people with disabilities.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), As I said, there will be screenings organised by the delegations of the European Parliament in the Member States, by the the offices we have everywhere. And there are also members of the Parliament organising film days or screenings of the movies. Here in the Parliament they can also be seen in the European Film Week.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), I really hope because we have a first, we have the five movies, so we have much more opportunities to watch a film than there is a broader set of possibilities to see the films. And I think it's also good that people can vote directly. In the past with the old structures it was not possible for the audience to vote. It was just the members of the Parliament.