Shooting Stars A Showcase of Europe’s up-and-coming Young Talent
by Birgit Schrumpf

As part of the 65th Berlin International Festival the European Shooting Star award ceremony took place at the Berlinale Palast on February 9, 2015. The young nominees from ten different European countries could be admired proudly walking the Red Carpet.
 
Having had the difficult task to chose was a jury from five different countries and included Swedish actress Eva Rose, Damon Wise (editor of U.K. film magazine Empire), Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska, Slovenian film producer Danijel Hocevar and Nathalie Cheron, the French casting director of Luc Besson’s Lucy. Szumowska said: „We pored over showreels and past performances of young actors from all over Europe, and our discussions have resulted in what we think is a particularly strong year.“

The following ten Shooting Stars received the award:

Natalia de Molina (Spain)
Sven Schelker (Switzerland)
Maisie Williams (Great Britain)
Emmi Parviainen (Finland)
Moe Dunford (Ireland)
Hera Hilmar (Island)
Joachim Fjelstrup (Denmark)
Abbey Hoes (The Netherlands)
Aistė Diržiūtė (Lithuania) — Aisté Dirziute
Jannis Niewöhner (Germany)

Maisie Williams (UK) already has a large fan following because of her role as Arya Stark in the popular series Game of Thrones. In the schoolgirl drama The Falling Maisie plays a totally different character showing wisdom and intuition, at only 17 years of age.
Abey Hoes’s (The Netherlands) film Nena showed at this year’s Berlinale. She plays the teenage daughter of a suicidal paraplegic, a perfect showcase for her maturity, although she is only 20.
Jannis Niewöhner: at 22 he is already one of Germany’s well-known film stars with his role in Ruby Red and Sapphire Blue, the film version of the fantasy novels by Kerstin Gier. Especially among the young he has a faithful following. His international debut will be with the upcoming feature film The Girl King by Mika Kaurismäki.
Sven Schelker (Switzerland) is a newcomer in the world of film. His debut film Der Kreis, director Stefan Haupt, is highly acclaimed and has already been sold to 17 countries in Europe, Asia and the US. Since 2012 the young actor is part of the permanent ensemble
of Hamburg’s Thalia Theater where he plays in „Romeo and Julia“ and „Rum & Wodka“.

Many of the previous years’ Shooting Stars have become famous like Daniel Craig (UK) - known as James Bond in the 007 films, Carey Mulligan (UK); her role in An Education earned her an Oscar nomination, Nikolaj Lie Kaas (Denmark) is now internationally acclaimed for The Whistleblower and The Absent One, adapted from Jussi Adler-Olsen’s novel. Daniel Brühl (Germany) is part of this year’s international jury for The Berlinale Bear awards.