Visions of Europe : European Parliament's Film Prize LUX and the Production, Representation and Circulation of Cultural Identities

Although much research during the past decades highlight how European filmmakers negotiate European identities, few studies go behind the scenes of existing pan-European film institutions in which different agents debate the meaning of these concepts. By utilizing a synthesis of discourse analysis and ethnographical analysis–– observing jury deliberations, interviewing leading figures, and studying internal communications––this thesis interrogates the European Parliament LUX Prize and the grounded interactions, decisions, and controversies that take place in its celebration of European cinema. By studying the three distinct phases of production, selection, and celebration, this thesis reconstructs the tensions involved in the definition of Europeanness. Whereas the production phase of the competition links the support of European cinema with the need for a shared European culture, the selection and the celebration phase brings forward the difficulties in defining said culture. Drawing on these findings, I argue that the concept of European identities is instrumental to this cultural competition, even while the inherent ambivalences associated with it cause the actual celebration of cinematic works to become problem-ridden.