Immigration Drama ‘Shun Li and The Poet’ Wins European Parliament Prize

BERLIN– Andrea Serge’s immigration drama Shun Li and the Poet has won the LUX Prize, the film award presented annually by the European Parliament to a movie that “illustrates or questions the fundamental values of European identity.”

The drama, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year, is the story of Shun Li, a Chinese immigrant worker in Italy who starts up an unlikely friendship with Bepi, a Slavic fisherman nicknamed The Poet.

The film beat out other art house contenders including Bence Fliegauf’s Just the Wind, Tabu from Portuguese director Miguel Gomes and Germany’s foreign language Oscar contender Barbara to take the LUX honor.

As part of the award, the European Parliament will pay to have Shun Li and the Poet subtitled in all 23 official languages of the European Union and will fund the production of a 35 mm print of the film for each member state.