While the presentation of the LUX prize - which has become the LUX public prize since this year - during the European Cinema Prize ceremony held on Wednesday 9 June at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, crowned the film
Colectiv
("The Affair collective ”) by Romanian director Alexander Nanau, the event also served as a political platform.
Polish actor Bartosz Bielenia, lead role in the feature film
Boże Ciało
(The Communion) directed by Jan Komasa, saw it as a heartbreaking opportunity to show his support for the Belarusian people.
Read also: Diving into the horror of the Belarusian dictatorship on LCP
"I am from Poland, which is the border of Belarus
," begins the actor, invited to speak in front of the hemicycle.
Just behind this border, 30,500 people are tortured, 476 are in prison for their political engagement and 13 were killed, and that only in 2020 ”
, he recalls, while Belarus - or Belarus - is agitated, since l summer 2020, by violent demonstrations caused by the controversial re-election of its leader, Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994.
Howl in support of Belarusian opponents
"All I can do is give my voice today in solidarity with those who gather every day at 6 p.m. in front of the embassy of the European Union in Warsaw to shout for a minute
," he continued. twenty-nine year old actor.
These are their words: we have been silent too long for 27 years, for all broken families, for every woman raped, for every torture, for those forced to be silent in Belarus today, join this global cry of a minute, at 6:00 p.m., every day, until the end of the revolution and one more day. "
Taking a step back, Bielenia then uttered, on three occasions, a shocking cry in front of the floor of deputies present in the room, who gave him a long standing ovation.
This is not the first time that the Belarusian cause has been hailed by the European Parliament. In 2020, the body awarded the Sakharov Prize for freedom of expression to demonstrators and opponents of Alexander Lukashenko.