Continuing its impressive journey in Greece and worldwide, Sofia Exarchou’s Animal has become only the third Greek film in history to earn a final nomination for the European LUX Audience Award, co-organized by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy.

To date, Animal has won the Golden Leopard for Best Actress for Dimitra Vlagkopoulou at the Locarno International Film Festival, where it had its world premiere, as well as the Golden Alexander at the Thessaloniki Film Festival.

The film has been featured in over 50 significant international festivals, securing a total of 20 awards (including Best Film at Cork, Vancouver, and LAGFF; Best Actress at Les Arcs, Thessaloniki, and LAGFF; FIPRESCI Award at Mannheim; Best Script at Santiago de Compostela, among others).

Additionally, it triumphed at the Iris Awards of the Greek Film Academy with 7 awards (Best Film, Best Director, Best Script, Best Actress in Leading and Supporting Roles, Best Editing, and Best Sound) and has secured distribution in theaters and platforms abroad (France, Scandinavia, Latin America, Austria, Netherlands, Spain, etc.), recognized by international critics as one of the most significant European films of the year.

European LUX Audience Award

Each year, the films nominated for the LUX Award are European cinema gems that “raise awareness of current social and political issues, promote viewer engagement in discussions about Europe in a way that truly resonates with them, and reflect the beauty and diversity of European cinema,” from Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness to Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Attenberg, and from Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann to Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida.

The nominated films will be subtitled in all 24 languages of the European Union and will be showcased in over 700 screenings organized by the European Parliament across all member states.

This year’s nominees are:

• Animal by Sofia Exarchou (Greece)
• Dahomey by Mati Diop (France)
• Flow by Gints Zilbalodis (Latvia)
• Intercepted by Oksana Karpovych (Ukraine)
• Julie Keeps Quiet by Leonardo Van Dijl (Belgium)