28 young film-lovers, each representing one European country, meet every year since 2010 to attend the Venice International Film Festival under the 28 Times Cinema Initiative. This project is set up by the LUX Film Prize of the European Parliament, in partnership with Europa Cinemas, Giornate degli Autori and Cineuropa.

The 28 participants are chosen out of hundreds of candidates on the basis of their originality, commitment and passion for film. In Venice, they have the opportunity to watch all films in the Giornate degli Autori selection and be film critics by contributing to a blog and to Europa Cinemas’ social networks. They also participate in round-table discussions and debates with film industry professionals, critics and filmmakers. In parallel, the 28 are devoted to the exploration of the 3 finalist films of the LUX Film Prize selection by watching the films and discussing them with their directors and the members of the European Parliament present in Venice. They will also be the LUX Film Prize ambassadors in their own country.

Since 2014, the 28 young participants – together with the help of the Jury moderator, Karel Och (artistic director of the Karlovy Vary IFF) and the Jury president (a different director every year) – will judge all the films from Giornate degli Autori lineup and award the GdA Award to one of the competing films. The jury’s final session to assign the Award, is open to the public as well as the press, and is broadcasted in streaming.