Bulgarian-Greek Drama Enters Lux Prize Shortlist

The Lesson, a 2014 Bulgarian-Greek film, is among the ten works nominated to the Lux Prize at this year's edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, the 105-minute drama tells the story of an honest, hard-working schoolteacher in a small Bulgarian town, who robs a bank with a toy pistol in a bid to save her family's house from being seized by the bank over a loan.

"The Lesson" won awards at the 2014 edition of the Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival, as well as at the film festivals in San Sebastian, Goteborg, Thessaloniki, Tokyo, Warsaw, and Kiev.

Contenders for the Lux Prize, awarded by MEPs, were unveiled by two European Parliament officials and festival representatives.

The idea of Lux is to underline the diversity of European cinema and help promote it beyond the respective national markets, also encouraging the debate on values and social norms.

Three films will make it to the final and will be screened in all EU member states in the autumn. The winner will be announced at the end of the year.

For the first time the shortlist includes an Icelandic movie.

The ten titles of the official selection are:

45 Years by Andrew Haigh (U.K.)
A Perfect Day by Fernando Leon de Aranoa (Spain)
Rams by Grimur Hakonarson (Iceland, Denmark)
The Measure of a Man by Stephane Brize (France)
Mediterranea, by Jonas Carpignano (Italy, U.S., Germany, France, Qatar)
Mustang by Deniz Gamze Erguven (France, Germany, Turkey, Qatar)
Son of Saul by Laszlo Nemes (Hungary)
Toto and His Sisters by Alexander Nanau (Romania, Hungary, Germany)

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