'Heaven' wins EU's Lux prize

Pic beats '4 Months,' Belle'

By IAN MUNDELL

BRUSSELS — Fatih Akin's "The Edge of Heaven," Germany's entry for the foreign language Oscar, has won the European Parliament's first Lux prize for European cinema.

The Lux recognizes films that highlight European social questions, particularly cultural integration. It will become an annual event.

Members of the Parliament chose the German-Turkish co-production ahead of two other contenders, "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," helmed by Cristian Mungiu, and "Belle toujours," by Manoel de Oliveira.

The winner gets assistance in kind for subtitling in the 23 official languages of the European Union and for video-to-film transfer. Where the film is already subtitled, support may be for DVD production.

"We are sending a strong signal for multilingualism and aim to breakthrough the logic of economic efficiency that often results in a lack of translations in some countries of the EU," said Hans Gert Pottering, president of the parliament.