When setting up her company HiFilm Productions in 2004, Ada Solomon had already gained substantial experience as a filmmaker. With HiFilm, Ada has produced award-winning shorts by Cristian Nemescu (Marilena From P7), Radu Jude (The Tube with a Hat) and Paul Negoescu (Renovation), debut features by Melissa de Raaf and Razvan Radulescu (First of all, Felicia) and documentaries by Alexandru Solomon (Cold Waves), among others. She is the initiator of the NexT Film Fest in Bucharest and the Romanian coordinator for EAVE, and was presented by EFP as a Producer on the Move at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2011.
Alba is one of the most critically acclaimed, internationally renowned, Italian actresses of her generation. Starring alongside BAFTA winning actress Tilda Swinton in Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love and Saverios Costanzo’s The Solitude of Prime Numbers gave her well-deserved recognition. At the 2012 Berlinale she could be seen in the lead role in Doris Dorrie’s Luck and she recently starred in the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Award nominated Dormant Beauty, directed by Marco Bellocchio. At the Berlinale 2009 she was presented by EFP as Italy’s participant of Shooting Stars – Europe’s Best Young Actors.
Anamaria Marinca (Shooting Star 2008) is an internationally regarded and multi-awarded actress who made her silver screen acting debut in 2007 as the lead in Cristian Mungiu’s Golden Palm-winning drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. She then worked with Radu Muntean on Boogie and with Julie Delpy on The Countess. She played one of the main parts in Storm by Hans-Christian Schmid which was selected for the 2009 Berlinale Competition. Marinca has since also starred in several US productions such as Europa Report by Sebastian Cordero, Look, Stranger by Arielle Javitch and Fury by David Ayer. She also had leading roles in BBC hit dramas, The Missing with James Nesbitt and River with Stellan Skarsgard. Presently, she is based in London.
Ankica Juric Tilic (PRODUCER ON THE MOVE 2009, PRODUCERS LAB TORONTO 2010 from Croatia)
is a producer with more than 20 years of experience in the film industry. She founded her production company Kinorama in 2003 and has since produced – together with her two partners – more than 20 feature films, several TV series and a number of shorts. Her latest films include this year’s Croatian Oscar entry, the award-winning family drama QUIT STARING AT MY PLATE (2016). Prior to that, she also produced the Croatian candidate for the Oscar in 2015, THE HIGH SUN, which won more than 30 international and national awards, including the Jury Prize in Cannes. The Croatian producer is a graduate of EAVE and a member of ACE and the European Film Academy.
When talking about ambitious internationally renowned producers, Bettina Brokemper, CEO at Heimatfilm is one of the most successful of her generation. In addition, since 2001 she is also Managing Director of Zentropa International Cologne and has co-produced several Lars von Trier films, most recently Nymphomaniac and Melancholia. Her credits also include the 2010 Berlinale winner, Bal – Honey by Semih Kaplanoglu. Bettina Brokemper is a member of the European Film Academy and German Film Academy and in 2008 was awarded with the ‘Prix Eurimages’ for Outstanding European Co-production. In 2006 she was presented by EFP as a ‘Producer on the Move’ at Cannes.
His credits include many acclaimed European co-productions such as Before the Rain by Milcho Manchevski and No Man's Land by Danis Tanovic (Academy Award in 2002). In 2003, he founded the Paris-based production entity "A.S.A.P. Films", together with his fellow producer Marc Baschet and the director Danis Tanovic with whom he continued producing several remarkable films such as Hell and, most recently, Cirkus Columbia. Recently he worked with Aktan Arym Kubat on The Light Thief, Marion Hänsel on Black Ocean and Benedek Fliegauf on Womb.
photo © Dejan Vekicc
Based in Athens, Constantine Giannaris works as an independent filmmaker in the UK and Greece. Several of his films have been screened at international film festivals and forums. His first UK feature 3 Steps to Heaven competed in Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight in 1995. The following films have all been selected for Berlinale sections: From the Edge of the City (Panorama-1999), One Day in August (Competition-2002), Hostage (Panorama Special-2005) and Man At Sea (Panorama Special-2011). His new feature film Spring Awakening is in post-production.
A film writer since 1987, Damon Wise is currently a Contributing Editor with Empire magazine and an advisor to the BFI London Film Festival's Thrill strand. As a writer he has had his features, interviews and reviews published in many UK publications, including The Times, Financial Times, The Guardian and The Observer, as well as other film magazines such as Sight & Sound and the short-lived Neon. As well as covering set visits and junkets, he is a regular attendee at key international film festivals, including Sundance, Cannes, Venice and Toronto. In 1998 he published his first book, Come By Sunday (Sidgwick & Jackson), a biography of British film star Diana Dors.
is one of the most experienced producers from his region. Together with the directors Damjan Kozole and Metod Pevec he established the production company Vertigo in 1994. Here more than 40 feature films have been realized, including the multi award winning An Episode In A Life Of An Iron Picker (2013) by Danis Tanović, Circles by Srdan Golubović and I Am From Titov Veles (2007) by Teona Mitevska. Danijel Hočevar has been selected as one of “Variety’s Ten Producers To Watch”. He is a voting member of the European Film Academy, a member of the selection jury of Nipkow Programm and a member of the pedagogical team of EAVE and MidPoint.
began as a film critic in the early 1970s, writing on international cinema for magazines such as "Films & Filming" and "Monthly Film Bulletin" and the yearbook "International Film Guide". In 1998 he co-founded the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy. For 20 years, he was the chief international critic of the trade paper "Variety", during which time he also co-ordinated the annual Variety Critics' Choice selection at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. He is currently the chief film critic for the Hong Kong-based website "Film Business Asia".
photo © Kiva
Dorka Gryllus (Actress and Shooting Star 2005 – Hungary)
became a superstar in her native country at the age of 20 with her role in András Sólyom's School of Senses, being named Best Actress at the 2005 Hungarian Film Week for her performance in Robert A. Pejo's drama Pallas Pashamende. The same year, she was selected as one of the European Shooting Stars at the Berlinale. Since then, Dorka has worked on international projects such as Irina Palm by Belgium's Sam Gabarski as well as German film and TV productions, ranging from Fatih Akin's Soul Kitchen to the ZDF two-parter Schicksalsjahre. She received two Best Actress awards for her performance in the Hungarian film Demimonde last year. Dorka has just completed shooting Bridge of Sighs by János Szász, together with former Shooting Star Zsolt Nagy.
Eduardo Noriega (actor and EUROPEAN SHOOTING STAR 1999 from Spain)
first studied music and piano, followed by acting lessons in his home town of Santander in Northern Spain. In 1992, he moved to Madrid to attend The Royal Spanish School of Drama from which he graduated in 1996. It was whilst there that he first met such newcomer directors as Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil and started appearing in their short films. His career took off when he starred in Amenábar’s feature film debut, the surprise hit THESIS (1996), followed by OPEN YOUR EYES (1997) where he played alongside Penelope Cruz and received a Goya nomination for his performance. Since then, he has starred in films by Guillermo del Toro (DEVIL’S BACKBONE, 2001) and the Spanish blockbuster THE METHOD (2006). Following his GQ Award as “Actor of the Year”, he made two films in the USA: Brad Anderson’s TRANSSIBERIAN and the political thriller VANTAGE POINT. In subsequent years. Noriega has played alongside the likes of Sam Shepard, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stephen Rea. In 2017 he stars in Àlex de la Iglesia’s PERFECT STRANGERS and in the thriller LA BOYA shot in the Dominican Republic.
has been one of the most popular Swedish actresses for the past 15 years. She has starred in over 50 feature films and TV productions and has played in over 20 stage productions at the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm and the Stockholm City Theater. On the big screen she was successful in a number of popular Scandinavian films such as Kopps and Göta Kanal 2 and in the award-winning film Storm. Since 2008, Eva stars as the crime inspector Maria, in the internationally renowned Swedish crime series Maria Wern. The series contains 14 movies shown both as feature films and on TV.
is presently one of Germany's most eminent film and television actresses. She has appeared in German films like Aimée & Jaguar, Gripsholm, Hilde and The Door as well as international productions, including Love Actually opposite Hugh Grant. In television, she made an impression in such productions as Das Wunder von Lengede and Margarete Steiff. In 2010, Heike Makatsch made her stage debut at the Centraltheater in Leipzig. She played the role of Jane in "Paris, Texas", staged by Sebastian Hartmann and based on the film of the same name by Wim Wenders. In 2011, she was cast in the role of Aunt Polly in the first German cinema adaptation of Tom Sawyer under the direction of Hermine Huntgeburth. Heike Makatsch was honoured for her roles with, among others, the Bavarian Television Prize, the Golden Camera and the Bambi.
photo © Nela KönigJan Lumholdt (Writer/Critic – Sweden)
has been a regular contributor and reviewer for the renowned Stockholm daily Svenska Dagbladet since 2001. He studied Literature and Film History at the University of Lund. Among his publications are "Lars von Trier: Interviews" (University Press of Mississippi, 2003) and "Harriet Andersson" (Alfabeta, 2005), for which he was awarded the Jurgen Schildt Award for excellence in cinema writing. Lumholdt is the chairman of The Swedish Association of Film Critics and a member of the Swedish Oscar Committee.
Award-winning director Jasmila Žbanić was born in Sarajevo where she is currently based. Her credit list includes Grbavica, winner of the Golden Bear at the 2006 Berlinale and On the Path which screened in Competition at the 2010 Berlinale and starred Zrinka Cvitešic, Croatian Shooting Star 2010. She is a graduate of the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. In 1997, together with her friends, she founded the Artist’s Association “Deblokada” where she produced, wrote and directed several documentaries, video-art works and shorts, including Participation, Lost and Found and Red Robber Boots.
Jina Jay’s credentials include Steven Spielberg’s War Horse (starring David Kross, German Shooting Star 2009), Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus (with Lubna Azabal, Belgium Shooting Star 2004), Stephen Daldry’s The Reader ( with David Kross, German Shooting Star 2009) and Anna Karenina by Joe Wright, starring the 2011 Shooting Stars, Alicia Vikander (Sweden), Domhnall Gleeson (Ireland) and Bill Skarsgård (Shooting Star, Sweden 2012). More recently she has worked with Michael Winterbottom, Susanne Bier and Anton Corbijn. Jina Jay is a member of the American Academy and BAFTA and is on the 2012 Jury for the BIFA’s.
has been a Casting Director for three decades, in New York and Los Angeles, a member of the Casting Society of America and a founding member of the International Casting Directors Network (ICDN). Working in American and European films such as Peter Weirs The Way Back, Gilles Paquet-Brenners Sarah's Key, Jennifer Lynchs Surveillance, Kenneth Lonergans You Can Count on Me, Douglas McGraths Nicholas Nickleby, and Jodie Fosters Little Man Tate, she is now producing Shirin Neshats and Shoja Azaris film Paradise and Kim Spurdocks Kin which just received the Chris Columbus Award. She is also the Breakthrough Performer Director in the Hamptons International Film Festival.
Lucinda Syson (Casting Director – UK)
started her career as a casting director 25 years ago after graduating in French and Linguistics. Her training under Priscilla John began with films like Alien 3 and Seven Years In Tibet. Her first film as casting director was Udayan Prasad's Brothers in Trouble, and Lucinda has since worked with such filmmakers as Luc Besson (Fifth Element), Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins), Alfonso Cuarón (Children Of Men), receiving an Artios nomination for Matthew Vaughn's 2010 film Kick-Ass. She is a member of the International Casting Directors Network and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
belongs to the most prominent Polish filmmakers and covers a broad spectrum working as screenwriter and producer as well as documentary and feature film director. She has been honoured with several awards, including the Teddy Award for In The Name Of at the Berlin Film Festival and the Silver Leopard Award at the Locarno Film festival for 33 Scenes From Life. Malgorzata Szumowska was twice nominated for the European Film Awards for Happy Man and Stranger. Her movie Elles, featuring Juliette Binoche and Anaïs Demoustier, French SHOOTING STAR 2010, was sold to over 40 countries.
Academy Award-winning Marleen Gorris has a large range of internationally acclaimed films on her list of credits. In 1996, Antonia's Line won her various prizes such as the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Her subsequent films have also been critically acclaimed, including The Luzhin Defence (UK), Mrs Dalloway (UK), starring Vanessa Redgrave, Carolina (USA) with Shirley MacLaine, Within the Whirlwind (German co-production) starring Emily Watson. Marleen Gorris is currently preparing two films set in the Netherlands. In addition, she works as a consultant for feature films for the Dutch Film Fund.
Marta Donzelli is one of Italy’s most successful producers of independent films. With “Vivo Film”, established in 2004 together with Gregorio Paonessa, she has produced more than 30 titles to date. Many of her films have been selected and awarded at the most prestigious international film festivals, including Sworn Virgin by Laura Bispuri (Berlinale Competition 2015), A Street In Palermo by Emma Dante (Venice Competition 2014), Le Quattro Volte by Michelangelo Frammartino (Cannes, Director’s Fortnight 2010). In 2011 Donzelli participated in “Producers on the Move” at Cannes. She is a member of the Editorial Board at Donzelli Publishing House.
Matt Mueller (Film Critic – UK) is a London-based film journalist with considerable and award-winning achievements in the industry. He has served as the editor on two British film magazines - Total Film and Premiere's UK edition - and seen his writing published in The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Independent, Entertainment Weekly, Screen International, GQ and Empire.
A contributing editor for Total Film and Wonderland magazines, he continues to profile some of the biggest names in the business whilst also covering the film world as a respected industry pundit.
Mijke de Jong (Director/Writer, The Netherlands)
has shown great social engagement in her work over the past 25 years: starting with her co-authored feature film debut, LOVE HURTS (1992), which won the Special Jury Prize in Locarno, through to her latest film, LAYLA M. (2016). The much-lauded drama about the radicalisation of a young Muslim growing up in Amsterdam is this year’s Oscar entry from The Netherlands. De Jong’s international breakthrough came with the award-winning film, BLUEBIRD (NL 2004), which premiered in Toronto and won the Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival 2005. Her other outstanding works include JOY (NL 2010), which received the Best Feature Film Award in The Netherlands.
Mode Steinkjer (critic/editor, Norway)
works as a film critic as well as the Arts Editor for the renowned daily Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen. He had written about film, the arts and art since the mid-1980’s for several major newspapers in Norway, as well as running his own music show at the national radio NRK, before becoming a staff writer and Arts Editor at Dagsavisen. As a renowned film critic, Steinkjer has served on several juries, including the FIPRESCI Jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017 and twice at the Berlin International Film Festival’s FIPRESCI jury, in 2013 and 2015. Steinkjer is the chairman of The Norwegian Association of Film Critics and a member of the Norwegian Oscar Committee. He is also a voting member of the European Film Academy.
is casting for French and European productions and already worked with some of Europe’s most respected directors. Her credit list includes Lucy and The Family by Luc Besson, Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! by Guillaume Gallienne, Mr Morgan's Last Love by Sandra Nettelbeck, Sa Majesté Minor by Jean-Jacques Annaud, Paris, Je t'aime by 20 directors and The Bourne Identity by Doug Liman. Nathalie Cheron is member of the International Casting Directors’ Network (ICDN) and of the Association des Responsables de Distribution Artistique (ARDA).
Nicole Schmied (casting director and ICDN member, Austria)
started her career as an assistant director for film and television in 1979. From 1999 onwards, she worked as a casting director and, in 2005, founded her own company, covering popular TV shows as well as feature films for cinema and television. Since then, Nicole Schmied has cast Austrian and international co-productions, including the latest film by the renowned Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky, the award-winning thriller COLD HELL (2017), and the similarly acclaimed THE PEOPLE VS. FRITZ BAUER (2015) by the German director Lars Kraume. Her portfolio also includes the mystery western DARK VALLEY (2014), starring Sam Riley, and the transgender drama ERIK. WELTMEISTERIN (2017) by Reinhold Bilgeri.
Pandora da Cunha Telles (Producer – Portugal)
started her career in film production in 2001 at Filmes de Fundo and was selected as one of EFP's "Producers on the Move" in Cannes in 2004. In 2009, Pandora established the production company Ukbar Filmes together with Pablo Iraola, producing Vicente Alves do Ó's Florbela, winner of six Sophias (Portuguese academy awards). Her latest productions are The Bridges of Sarajevo (2015), which screened at Cannes' official selection, and The Train of Salt and Sugar by Licinio Azevedo, which premiered in Locarno. At the moment Pandora is finalizing Ukbar's latest features, The Surge by Daniela Thomas and Joaquim by Marcelo Gomes. Pandora is currently the president of APCA (Portuguese Association of Producers of Cinema and Audiovisual).
Rie Hedegaard has cast films for some of the most exciting Danish and international film directors working today, amongst them Lars von Trier (Dancer In The Dark, Breaking The Waves), Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration, Submarino), Anders Thomas Jensen (Men & Chicken), Ole Christian Madsen (Itsi Bitsi, Flame & Citron), Christoffer Boe (Sex, Drugs & Taxation), Per Fly (Pelle, the Conqueror II) and Mikkel Nørgaard (The Keeper Of Lost Causes). Since 2002, she has taught at the Danish Government Acting Schools and is a member of the ICDN.
Simone Bär (Casting Director – Germany) numbers among the most respected European casting directors. After founding the "Casting Studio" in Berlin in 1990, she has worked both nationally and internationally with the finest directors. Her list of credits includes films by the German directors Christian Petzold (Yella), Tom Tykwer (Three) and Marc Rothemund (Man tut was man kann). Moreover, she was responsible for the German casting on Roland Emmerich's Anonymous, Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and Stephen Daldry's The Reader. In 2002, Simone Bär received the German Casting Award at the Cologne Conference.
Thierry Chèze is film editor at the renowned French cinema magazine “Studio Ciné Live” since it launched in 2007. At the Paris based monthly magazine he is in charge of spotlighting new talents in French cinema. He is also a regular collaborator on various TV shows including Ca Balance à Paris, a weekly cultural magazine on Paris Première channel and Le Cine-Club on France 2. Since 2010, Thierry Chèze is the voiceover of the Cannes Film Festival’s closing ceremony and the Cesar ceremony. In addition to journalism, Thierry Chèze is also directing documentaries about acting.
Thure Lindhardt (Actor and SHOOTING STAR 2000 – Denmark) is one of the most critically acclaimed Danish actors of his generation. He garnered international recognition with various films, including Into the Wild (Sean Penn) and two films by Danish director Ole Christian Madsen: Nordkraft and Flame & Citron for which he was nominated as “Best Actor” at the Bodil Awards and the European Film Awards in 2008. In the US, Thure attracted attention with his role in Angels and Demons by Ron Howard. Known in Germany for Love in Thoughts (Achim von Borries), he soon will be seen in the German feature Formentera by Ann-Kristin Reyels, as well as the Bulgarian production The Island (Kamen Kalev).
Tobias Kniebe is the film editor for Germany’s highly respected newspaper, Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Kniebe studied Journalism, Philosophy and Political Science at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. Aside from his work as a film critic, he has made documentaries for Bavarian Television, co-written the feature film Fremder Freund with Elmar Fischer (2003) and published a study of Germany’s military resistance movement against Hitler, “Operation Walküre” (2009). In 2010, Kniebe received the prestigious Reporterpreis Award for his profile of maverick German film director Klaus Lemke.
Xavier Koller (Director – Switzerland)
initially worked as an actor and director for theatre, television and commercials before making the short fiction film Fano Hill in 1969. His feature debut, Hannibal, premiered in the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes in 1973. In 1991, Koller received the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for Journey Of Hope and has since been based in Los Angeles, working on such English-language features as Squanto, A Warrior's Tale and Ring Of Fire. He has returned to Europe to shoot such films as Gripsholm, Einer wie ich (Someone Like me), Die Schwarzen Brüder and, most recently, Little Mountain Boy (Schellen-Ursli), based on the classic Swiss children's book.
Every year EFP appoints a jury of five prominent industry figures (director, producer, actor, casting director, film journalist) to select Europe's best young actors from a variety of up-and-coming acting talent from all over Europe.
The EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS jury for 2018: Award-winning Dutch director Mijke de Jong (LAYLA M. – this year's Oscar entry from The Netherlands), former PRODUCER ON THE MOVE Ankica Juric Tilic (QUIT STARING AT MY PLATE – this year's Oscar entry from Croatia), Austrian casting director Nicole Schmied (COLD HELL), former EUROPEAN SHOOTING STAR Eduardo Noriega (OPEN YOUR EYES), and the Norwegian arts editor, film critic and member of the Norwegian Oscar committee Mode Steinkjer (Dagsavisen). Combining their diverse expertise in the various fields of the creative filmmaking process, the jury will select the ten most talented and internationally diverse young actors and actresses from the 21 candidates who have been nominated by their respective EFP member organisations for the upcoming edition of EUROPEAN SHOOTING STARS.
European Film Promotion e.V.
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