Selection process

The LUX Selection Panel is composed of European film professionals from different EU Member States, and includes members with various roles in the cinema industry.  
The Selection Panel members as well as the chair of the Selection Panel are approved by the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education. Their role is to select the five nominated films for the LUX Audience Award from an extensive list of eligible films.   The LUX Selection Panel meets each year in Brussels in June for a two-day meeting.

Eligibility criteria

In order to be considered for the LUX Audience Award, films needed to meet the following criteria:

General:

• Selected or received an award, or notable attention, at a major festival.
• Sold or theatrically released in at least five EU Member States (or to have had its rights sold in at least one EU Member State in the case of films from the Cannes Film Festival).
• Had its first official public screening at a festival or in a cinema or online release between 1 July of the preceding year and the end of May of the current year.

Topics:

• Illustrate the diversity of topics at the heart of European debate, as well as the European values, and encourage exchange between Members of the European Parliament and citizens on issues influencing European daily life and Europe’s future.
• Successfully portray equality, diversity, democracy and inclusion through the film’s topics and characters
• Represent where relevant the topics covered in the legislative work of the European Union
• Be accessible to a wide and diverse European audience, including young people
• Diversity of tone and genre is encouraged

Production's geographic origin:
Films need to be produced or co-produced in countries eligible for the CREATIVE EUROPE-MEDIA programme (EU Member States, Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine).

Genre: 
Fiction, animation and documentary.

Run-time:
Have a run-time of at least 60 minutes. Films longer than 120 minutes should be avoided as much as possible.

The 2025 LUX Selection Panel included producers, distributors, cinema operators, artistic directors and programmers of film festivals and selected 27 Times Cinema participants.

Representatives of the main partners, the European Film Academy, the European Commission/Creative Europe programme and Europa Cinemas take part as observers.

The Honorary President chairing the 2025 LUX Selection panel was Michael Downey OBE, Chairman of the European Film Academy.