22/07/2014 - The three finalist films were announced today at the Venice Days press conference

The newly elected President of the Committee on Culture, Silvia Costa, announced today at the Venice Days press conference the three films in the running for the LUX Prize 2014. Class Enemy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rok Biček
interview: Rok Bicek
interview: Rok Bicek
film profile] by Rok Biček (Slovenia), Girlhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Céline Sciamma
interview: Céline Sciamma
film profile] by Céline Sciamma (France) and Ida [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile] by Pawel Pawlikowski (Poland, Denmark) are the three ones chosen from among the ten finalists (read the news). The landscapes portrayed by the three very diverse directors are extremely multi-faceted and emblematic of contemporary issues, and offer a richness in their variety of stylistic approaches.

Rok Bicek is going back to the Lido with the LUX Prize, as was the case for Andrea Segre in 2012 and Athina Rachel Tsangari in 2010. His debut film, Class Enemy, enters the microcosm of a high-school class which is faced with a particularly severe new teacher. With her third film, Girlhood, Céline Sciamma reflects on the relationship between adolescents and authority, highlighting a different type of femininity through the portrait of a gang of 16-year-old girls from the Parisian suburbs. The film opened the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes and has not yet been screened in Italy. With Ida, Pawel Pawlikowski sets his sights on a black-and-white Europe, portraying a young Polish orphan at the beginning of the 1960s. Having grown up in a convent, the film follows her as she starts questioning her faith.

The three finalist films will be subtitled in the 24 official languages ​​of the European Union, while the winning film, voted for by the Members of the European Parliament, will be adapted for the visually and hearing impaired, and supported through promotion during its international release. The films will also start travelling from Venice across the whole of Europe, thanks to the LUX FILM DAYS from mid-October to December 2014. The three movies will be screened in more than 40 cities and 18 festivals, allowing an ever-growing number of Europeans to discover or re-watch the titles each year.