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LUX PRIZE: THE 27 MEET MEMBERS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND DIRECTORS OF THE FINALIST FILMS
06/09/2011
For the second year running the Venice Days host the LUX Prize, the recognition that the European Parliament confers to a film shown during the previous season at the major international film festivals. Among the ten works selected this year, the chosen finalist films, which will be screened during the Venice Film Festival are: Greece’s Attenberg by Athina Rachel Tsangari, France’s Les Neiges Du Kilimandjaro by Robert Guédiguian, and co-production between Sweden, France and Denmark, Play, by Ruben Östlund.
Attending the morning meeting were, apart from the 27 young Europeans, representatives from the European Parliament, Vice-President of the Parliament Isabelle Durant, President of the Committee on Culture Doris Pack, and Italian MEP Silvia Costa. Sitting beside them, the directors of the three films above, with special guest, French actress and main character in Guédiguian’s film, Ariane Ascaride.
What should be the role of film in the panorama of contemporary Europe? This was the main question of the meeting, and of the debate held by the speakers. An initial answer was provided by the director Tsangari, of Greek origin but resident in the US: “I have conflicting feelings when I think about my identity, being at the same time Greek, American and European. I try to resolve these conflicts through my films”.
“Film- stated Doris Pack, embracing a wider perspective -, is an excellent tool to expose common problems and find common solutions”.
A remark echoed by Isabelle Durant and Silvia Costa: “A film is an excellent way of sharing points of view and ways of feeling between different nationalities and ages; cinema is an important way of facing each other, creating a climate of co-existence and sharing common values.”
br>The project 27 Times Cinema is therefore particularly dear to the Parliament, because it allows for 27 young people from as many countries to come together for ten days, in the exciting context of the Venice Film Festival; an amalgamation of sensibilities and opinions which works on the common ground of contemporary European cinema, in search of clues to understand the current social and political context. The 27 are a signal that the European Union wants to launch into the field of film culture, reasserting the importance of film as a means of openness to the world and cultural dialogue. It is to them and to all other young Europeans that Durnad and Pack addressed themselves at the end of the meeting: “It is your duty, in order to safeguard the future that awaits you, to protect not only the economy of your countries, but also the culture; we need to believe in young people. Be active, resist to those interferences that try to diminish the importance of your thoughts. Use the differences between films from different nationalities to enrich yourselves with new perspectives”.
Francesco Bonerba
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