LUX Audience Award 2025 Nominees Include Oscar-Winning ‘Flow' and Ukraine War Doc ‘Intercepted'
A joint initiative of the European Parliament and the European Film Academy in collaboration with the European Commission and Europa Cinemas, the LUX Audience Award 'fosters dialogue and engagement between politics and the public through the medium of film.' Nominated films address 'European values' as well as raising 'awareness about some of today's main social and political issues.' Throughout the competition period, the European Parliament provides subtitles in 24 EU languages and organizes free screenings across all European Union member states. Previous winners of the LUX Audience Award include Lukas Dhont's 'Close' and Jasmila Žbanić's 'Quo Vadis, Aida?'
Voting for the LUX Audience Award closes in April, followed by an awards ceremony on a date yet to be confirmed. Below, you can find short profiles on all of this year's nominated films:
'Animal' by Sofia Exarchou (Greece, Austria, Romania, Cyprus, Bulgaria)
The first Greek film in 30 years to win the Golden Alexander at Greece's prestigious Thessaloniki Film Festival, 'Animal' is the follow-up to Exarchou's lauded debut 'Park,' which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and won the New Directors Award in San Sebastian. The film, which tells the story of a group of entertainers preparing for the busy tourist season at an all-inclusive resort as nights turn increasingly violent, picked up several other awards during its successful festival run, including acting awards at Thessaloniki and Locarno for Dimitra Vlagopoulou.
'Dahomey' by Mati Diop (France, Senegal, Benin)
Diop became the first-ever Black filmmaker to win the Berlinale Golden Bear in 2024 with her follow-up to 2019's highly acclaimed 'Atlantics.' In a history-making moment, it was Lupita Nyong'o — the first Black president of the Berlinale's International Jury — who handed Diop the award for her beguiling hybrid documentary, following the return of 26 royal treasures from Paris to their titular home of Dahomey in Benin. In her review, Variety's Jessica Kiang called 'Dahomey' 'a striking, stirring example of the poetry that can result when the dead and the dispossessed speak to and through the living.'
'Flow' by Gints Zibalodis (Latvia, France, Belgium)
In the ten months since premiering at Un Certain Regard in Cannes, Zibalodis's story about a black cat befriending several animals in the aftermath of a devastating flood has become the most-viewed film in theaters in Latvian history, with over 255,000 admissions. The film also gave Latvia its first ever Oscar nominations — for both Best International Film and Best Animated Film. Zibalodis's film won the latter award, becoming the first ever independent film to win the category and beating major studio contenders such as 'The Wild Robot' and 'Inside Out 2.'
'Intercepted' by Oksana Karpovych (Canada, France, Ukraine)
Karpovych's foreboding documentary mixes intercepted phone calls of Russian soldiers between March and November of 2022 with images of the destruction in Ukraine to investigate the mechanisms of war. The film was shot over two years, with footage captured in Donbas and the Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv regions. 'Intercepted' premiered at the Berlinale and had a successful festival run, including picking up the Grand Prize for National Feature at the Montreal International Documentary Festival. Variety's Murtada Elfadl called Karpovych's film 'a political snapshot laying bare how both belief in propaganda and disillusionment with leaders can co-exist and lead to apathy.'
'Julie Keeps Quiet' by Leonardo van Dijl (Belgium, Sweden)Van Dijl's feature debut follows the titular Julie, the star of an elite tennis academy who is faced with a great dilemma when her coach is investigated and suspended from his duties. The film, which premiered in Critics' Week at Cannes, went on to have a prestigious festival run, playing festivals such as Karlovy Vary, Toronto, and London, and was selected as Belgium's Oscar entry. In his review, Variety's Guy Lodge said, 'Julie Keeps Quiet' 'knows the value of control — though its own calm is fraught with anxiety and anger.'
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