EU film

After sweeping up five prizes at the European Film Awards this past weekend, filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski has yet another trophy for his collection. "Ida" beat out competing movies like "Class Enemy" by Slovenian filmmaker Rok Bicek and "Girlhood" by French director Céline Sciamma to take the 2014 Lux Film Prize. The award was handed over Wednesday in a ceremony at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

The winner is decided as the result of a vote among the members of the European Parliament. As a result of the prize, the EU will sponsor the subtitling of "Ida" in all 24 European Union languages.

Told in black-and-white images, the film is a poignant coming-up-age story of a Polish orphan who is raised as a nun, but grows up to discover her true identity.

"Although it was every financier's nightmare, 'Ida' has succeeded in crossing all European borders, reaching audiences from France to Hungary, from the United Kingdom to Malta - which may be proof that art still has a role to play in cinema today, and that the more personal and specific the film, the less rhetorical and calculating it is - and the more universal its reach," said Pawlikowski as he received the prize.

With the accolade, the EU aims to support the European film industry and bring creative, artistic works to broader cinema audiences. Last year's winner was "The Broken Circle Breakdown" by Belgian director Felix van Groeningen.