In the director's chair: Lux Film finalists on what inspired their films

From paradoxes to questions of identity, anything can inspire a cinematic adventure. Although the winner of this year's Lux Film Prize won't be announced until 17 December, we have already talked to the directors of the three short-listed films to find out more about their work. Read on for a look behind the scenes.

Céline Sciamma, Girlhood (France)

"My films talk about identity, how you are often assigned an identity by your culture, by your family, by the city you live in, the colour of your skin, your sexual orientation, and how you can reinvent yourself and reassign yourself with plural identities."

Paweł  Pawlikowski, Ida (Poland, Denmark)
"Ida is one of those stories that probably couldn’t happen elsewhere. It's full of the paradoxes and ambiguities that abound in European history.

"In Europe we do know how complex things are, how the same thing can look totally different from two sides of the border, two sides of a village or two different valleys. That sense of paradox is very rare and very European."
Rok Biček, Class Enemy (Slovenia)

"The story of Class Enemy is the story of every European nation. It could happen in every high school in every country in Europe."