The LUX Audience Award, the largest audience prize in the world, is voted on by citizens across Europe, as well as the members of the European Parliament via the LUX audience award online rating platform.
Their respective votes will each count 50% towards the final scores.
Presented by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy in partnership with the European Commission and Europa Cinemas, the LUX Audience Award nominees were chosen by a panel of film professionals from across EU member states.
This year’s five-strong slate of nominees includes Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or winner It Was Just An Accident, and Irish filmmaker Brendan Canty’s Christy, the Grand Prix winner of last year’s Berlin Generation 14plus competition.
Also in the running are French director Anna Cazenave Cambet’s Love Me Tender, Spanish director Eva Libertad’s Deaf and Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value. The latter is fresh from picking up six prizes, including best European film at this year’s European Film Awards.
This year’s nominees address youth and mental health, inclusiveness, and democracy.
The prize aims to foster dialogue and engagement between politics and the public and is complemented by the Young Talent Programme, which seeks to engage young cinema professionals in the promotion of European values and the LUX Audience Award project.
Free screenings of the five titles will take place in all EU countries until April 2026. In keeping with the European Parliament’s commitment to accessibility, and for the first time, the films will have subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Ahead of this year’s vote, the European Parliament and the European Film Academy will host a high-profile panel during the Berlinale entitled ‘Balancing Cultural Diversity, Artistic Freedom, and Competitiveness in the Platform Era.’
A networking cocktail party will follow for industry representatives. Attendees can register here.
Throughout the voting period, the European Parliament provides subtitles in 24 EU languages and organises free screenings across all European Union member states.
The winner will be unveiled at a ceremony at the hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels in mid-April 2026.
Last year’s prize was presented to Gints Zibalodis’s history-making Flow, which won Latvia its first Oscar for best animated film. Lukas Dhont’s Close and Jasmila Žbanić’s Quo Vadis, Aida? are previous winners.
Below, a quick rundown of this year’s nominees.
Christy (UK-Ireland)
Dir: Brendan Canty
The feature debut of Irish filmmaker Brendan Canty, Christy made its world premiere in the Generation 14plus competition at the Berlinale last year, winning the section’s Grand Prix. The empathetic drama is based on Canty’s short film of the same name and follows a 17-year-old boy after he’s thrown out of his suburban foster home and moves in with his estranged older half-brother in Cork.
Deaf (Spain)
Dir: Eva Libertad
Berlinale Panorama was the launchpad for Eva Libertad’s low-key crowd-pleaser Deaf. The southern Spain- set family drama details the challenges of motherhood from the perspective of a deaf woman who is married to a hearing man. Miriam Garlo, the director’s sister, stars in the film. Garlo also appeared in Libertad’s 2023 award-winning short of the same name.
It Was Just an Accident (Iran-Fr-Lux)
Dir: Jafar Panahi
The winner of the Palme d’Or in Cannes and France’s international Oscar candidate this year follows the events sparked by a minor accident that sets in motion a series of escalating consequences. It Was Just An Accident uses pitch black humour to furious illuminate the foot soldiers of the Iranian regime.
Love Me Tender (France)
Dir: Anna Cazenave Cambet
Vicky Krieps stars as a woman whose life and family is turned upside down when she tells her husband, played by Antoine Reinartz, that she is having romantic relationships with women. Anna Cazenave Cambet’s Paris-set drama revolves around a mesmerising performance from Krieps. It premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes
Sentimental Value (Norway-DK-Swe-Ger-Fr)
Dir: Joachim Trier
The Grand Prix winner at Cannes, Sentimental Value made history as the first Norwegian film to be nominated in the best film category at the Oscars. The film follows two sisters who reunite with their estranged father, a once-renowned film director, who offers one of the sisters a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. Joachim Trier’s regular collaborator Renate Reinsve stars with Stellan Skarsgard and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas.
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