French movie scoops European film prize

STRASBOURG - Agence France-Presse

The film ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’ won the EU’s Lux prize. Company photo

A small-budget French movie centred on an elderly retired couple, “Les neiges du Kilimandjaro” (The Snows of Kilimanjaro) won the European parliament’s Lux prize Wednesday for its focus on social injustice.

The movie by cult leftwing film-maker Robert Guediguian recounts how an attack on the couple by a young jobless worker became a life-changer for the retirees.

The 90,000-euro prize money will pay to sub-title the film in the EU’s 23 official languages as well as for the cinema launch.

The movie featured at this year’s Cannes film festival in the Un Certain Regard section.

The other two finalists were Greek movie “Attenberg” by Athina Rachel Tsangari and “Play”, a Sweden-France-Denmark production. The prize goes to films that portray values seen as representing European identity or its diverse cultures, or that relate to European Union integration.

Also on Wednesday, MEPs approved a report on cinema in the digital era that calls for adequate funding to help film producers and distributors, particularly small independent cinemas, to survive the switch to digital projection