It’s always good to announce a winner.  This is exactly what the President of the European Parliament, Mr Buzek, did this morning.  Amid much Oscar style drama complete with sealed envelope, the full parliamentary sitting was informed that “Welcome” had made it despite fierce competition.  As President Buzek so rightly said, every one of the three short listed films – “Eastern Plays”, “Sturm” as well as “Welcome” was a winner, though only one, of course, could take the prize.   

Although I blogged earlier about the Lux prize, just to remind you that it is an annual event, albeit a new one; this is, in fact, only the third time the prize has been awarded.  The criteria for the prize are that the films deal with issues important to Europe, and that the prize itself breaks down language barriers.  To this end, the winning film, “Welcome” will be distributed with subtitles in every official EU language.  I very much hope that some of you will see the film as it is well worthwhile, dealing as it does with immigration in Europe and the hopes and fears of those newly arrived in the continent.

I also hope you will be able to see the two others, “Eastern Plays” which deals with neo-Nazism and “Sturm” about witnesses at the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague.