The 2026 LUX Audience Award finalists are engaging audiences and MEPs on critical themes of love, family, freedom, and identity. A recent debate hosted by Euronews featured directors, producers, and actors from the five competing films.
Rachel Khan, actress in "Love me tender," highlighted how cinema addresses ongoing LGBTQIA+ discrimination in Europe, noting uneven progress and the need for art to challenge social norms. "The reality of this community is still complex because you can see it's more in the deep social circles that LGBTQIA+ people can be threatened," Khan stated.
Eva Libertad, director of "Sorda" (Deaf), hopes her film broadens perspectives on deafness, emphasizing diversity as true normality. "I think that this movie helps people to think about normality. I think that the true normality is diversity," she explained.
Jafar Panahi, director of "It Was Just an Accident," created his film without official Iranian government permission, delivering a message about rebuilding democracy amidst past conflict. "The message in the film is: How to organise ourselves to rebuild a democracy," said producer Philippe Martin, posing the moral question of forgiveness versus revenge.
Actor Diarmuid Noyes believes art serves as therapy and a voice for younger generations, touching on themes of youth, working-class life, and child protection in the Irish/UK production "Christy."
The winner of the LUX Audience Award is determined by a 50/50 split between EU citizens and their elected representatives in the European Parliament.