The winner of LUX Prize
French film Welcome gets European Parliament 2009 LUX Prize
This year’s European Parliament LUX Film Prize goes to the film Welcome by the French director Philippe Lioret. This film won the majority of EP members’ votes.
The film takes place in Calais, France, and shows a swimming instructor who chooses to help out a young Kurdish refugee who necessarily wants to swim across the English Channel to join his girl friend who has already immigrated to England along with her family.
This year’s LUX Prize, worth about €87,000, will finance the subtitling of the winning film in all the 23 European Union’s official languages, including the adaptation of the original version for visually- or hearing-impaired people, and, for each EU member state, the production of a 35-mm print or a contribution to the DVD release. In this way Parliament aims to help break down language barriers that too often hinder the circulation of films throughout Europe.
More information:
The official website of LUX Prize
NFD winners